HARARE: The Afghan bowling attack wreaked havoc for Zimbabwe in the third ODI before batsmen got their nerve to guide their team to a sweep victory in the recently concluded three-match series.
In the third ODI of the three match series, Afghanistan defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in a low scoring contest and sealed the series 3–0.
After putting the hosts to bat first, the Afghan bowlers wreaked havoc on Zimbabwe’s batting line as the combined bowling effort resulted in Zimbabwe bowling for a meager 135.
Home team middle order batsman Sikander Raza put up a bit of a fight with his gutsy 38-run 77-ball strike, but was also unable to put his side out of misery as the Rashid Khan-led bowling attack did not allow the Zimbabwean batsmen will score freely. .
For Afghanistan, Rashid led the way with three wickets, while Mohammad Nabi and Fazalhaq Farooqi bagged two wickets each. Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Fareed Ahmad and Azmatullah Omarzai, on the other hand, made one scalp each.
In the race chase, Afghanistan got off to a similar dismal start, as the touring team lost three wickets by just 39 runs.
Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi defended his team and briefly kept the scoreboard going with Najeebullah Zadran before the latter fell after adding nine runs to his team’s total.
Shahidi then joined Nabi and brought his team closer to victory before falling to Dion Myers in the 33rd. He was the team’s leading scorer on 38 of 70 balls, tied with five bounds.
Following Shahidi’s dismissal, Nabi secured victory for his team and remained undefeated with his brilliant 34-run strike from 47 balls, including two bounds and a six.
For Zimbabwe, Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara each took two wickets, while Myers and Ryan Burl each struck out one batter.
For his 31/3 in the match, Rashid was declared Man of the Match, while Rahmat Shah was declared Player of the Series for his 198 runs in a three match series.
Afghanistan’s sweeping victory over Zimbabwe has bolstered them to claim second position in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, overtaking England.
Afghanistan continues to climb in the ICC Men’s @cricketworldcup Super League table 📈
Now they are in second place!
Full table ➡️ https://t.co/ydTrg1DDQ3 pic.twitter.com/AMxB0D8bwm
– ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2022
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