Ahmadzai, Rashid and Farooqi give Afghanistan a comfortable win

Afghanistan 177 (Ahmadzai 52, Shahidullah 46, Rashid 30, Nyamhuri 4-31) beat Zimbabwe 140 (Burl 32, Farooqi 3-13, Rashid 2-20) by 37 runs

Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai made the old cricket cliché come true in Sharjah: he batted on a different pitch compared to everyone else. In the opening contest of this three-match series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, Ahmadzai entered with the score 66 for 5 in the 12th over of the first innings, on a pitch that was exceedingly slow and grippy. He took the conditions out of the equation, muscling a 20-ball fifty.

Though Afghanistan were then bowled out with one ball to spare in their innings, they had found their way to 177, which proved to be more than enough as Zimbabwe's batters struggled to 140 all-out in the chase, on a pitch that had stayed slow throughout the game. Rashid Khan, who took Afghanistan to their above-par total with his unorthodox cameo of 30 off 10 in the death overs, returned with the ball to pluck out 2 for 20.

Ahmadzai and Rashid's all-round acumen sealed a comfortable 37-run win for Afghanistan, handing them a 20-2 record in the format against Zimbabwe.

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