3rd T20I, Harare, June 14, 2022, 04:30 PM
Afghanistan
125/8(20.0ov)
Zimbabwe
90/9(20.0ov)
Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by 35 runs
Best Batsmen
R
B
4S
6S
SR
Best Bowler
O
R
W
Econ
Man of the Match
Noor Ahmad
Commentry
Mohammad Nabi has been handed over the trophy, and he along with his teammates celebrate the victory. Right then! This ends another series but there is plenty of cricket action still going on. We have England and New Zealand fighting hard on Day 5, Australia and Sri Lanka are playing their first ODI and India are playing their third T20I against South Africa. So, switch tabs and join us there! It's goodbye from here!
Najibullah Zadran is the Player of the Series! He says that he is very happy with his performance and his team's performance. Mentions performing as a senior player he just wanted to play his natural game. Adds that they have the Asia Cup coming up, then they will think about the World Cup. Concludes by saying that they have a good team with good youngsters and they would like to give everyone else an opportunity as well.
Noor Ahmad is the Player of the Match. He says he is very happy to receive this award on his debut, it was a dream to play for his country. Mentions that he spoke with Rashid Khan, who told him to bowl in the right areas and not think too much about what the batters would do. Says that it's tough to get chances considering the bowling attack of their team, but he would like to perform whenever he gets his opportunities.
Mohammad Nabi the skipper of Afghanistan says that the plan was to win all matches and they are happy to execute it. Mentions that it was not going to be easy to bat on this pitch, and hence they backed their spinners today. Says that they wanted to give all their players a chance to play and they did try to do that, and they will plan to give more chance to players in the future.
Craig Ervine the skipper of Zimbabwe, says that Noor Ahmad came and pretty much blew them away. Mentions that they had a reasonable start and were good at the end of the Powerplay but then they were completely undone by their spin attack. Adds that they have to sit down after this and go over all the little things that did not go well and have to work on them. Further adds that they have to pick themselves up and keep their chin up.
Stay tuned for the presentation...
Earlier in the match, Afghanistan chose to bat first after winning the toss. They failed to get going with the bat as they set a below-par target of just 126, with Mohammad Nabi scoring the most runs for them. Zimbabwe were the happier side at the end of the first innings and had a golden opportunity to avoid a whitewash. But coming into bat, they threw their wickets away after getting off to a perfect start. No batter found their rhythm in the middle for the hosts and in the end, they failed to get over the line. Zimbabwe were perfect with the ball but failed with the bat this time. A tough loss for Zimbabwe as Afghanistan have won all the 6 games on this tour. Agony for the hosts while ecstasy for the visitors.
Zimbabwe got off to a blistering start. Wesley Madhevere and Innocent Kaia were scoring runs freely and quickly. Wesley Madhevere did depart early in the innings but he had provided Zimbabwe with a perfect start. Zimbabwe scored 38 runs at the loss of one wicket at the end of the Powerplay. They were well on track to chase this one down. Their run rate was perfect and had a lot of wickets in hand as well. But post that, they lost their way completely. Afghanistan introduced their spinners and they caused a lot of damage. The visitors made sure they grabbed wickets at regular intervals. Zimbabwe slipped from 40 for 1 at the end of the 6 over to 69 for 9 in the 17th over. It was a massive batting collapse from Zimbabwe. Noor Ahmad the debutant, was the leader of the pack. He grabbed 4 wickets in his spell and demolished Zimbabwe's batting lineup. Sharafuddin Ashraf picked up two wickets while Rashid Khan took a wicket as well. So, it was spin to win for Afghanistan!
AFGHANISTAN WIN! Yes, that's correct! The visitors have managed to defend a below-par total here and whitewashed Zimbabwe in the T20I series as well! It's been a clinical bowling performance from Afghanistan, but an evening to forget for the hosts.
In over# 20
1
1lb
2
1
1
1
Nijat Masood 27/0(3)
19.6
1
A shorter ball, around off. Tendai Chatara slaps it wide of mid off and takes a single. Afghanistan win by 35 runs!
19.5
1lb
Leg bye! A length ball, angling in down leg. Ainsley Ndlovu looks to pull this away but he misses and gets hit on his thigh pad. The ball rolls onto the deck and the batters sneak in a leg bye!
19.4
2
Pitches it up again, around middle and off. Ainsley Ndlovu drags it with the inner half of his bat towards deep mid-wicket for a brace.
19.3
1
Outside off, fuller ball. Tendai Chatara slices it past point for a single.
19.2
1
A length ball, around off. Ainsley Ndlovu shuffles across and tries to scoop this but he manages to get only a glove on it. The ball goes towards the keeper and the batters sneak in a run.
19.1
1
Shorter ball, wide of off. Tendai Chatara cuts it past point. Single taken!
In over# 19
0
4
0
0
2
0
Fazalhaq Farooqi 16/1(4)
18.6
.
Swing and a miss! A length ball, outside off. Ainsley Ndlovu swings his bat at it but he fails to get any connection on it. 43 needed off the final 6 balls.
18.5
4
FOUR! A rare boundary for Zimbabwe! Back of a length, around middle and leg. Ainsley Ndlovu swivels and pulls it gently towards deep square leg for a boundary.