Afghanistan 157 (Rashid 25, Raza 3-30, Nyamhuri 3-42) and 363 (Rahmat 139, Alam 101, Muzarabani 6-95) won Zimbabwe 243 (Ervine 75, Raza 61, Rashid 4-94) and 205 (Ervine 53, Rashid 7-66, Zia 2-44) by 72 runs
But even the brief period of play on day five was enough to generate plenty of drama. The day started with exactly what Afghanistan wanted: Rashid bowling to Zimbabwe’s number 10 Richard Ngarava. After four balls in play, Afghanistan got exactly what they wanted: almost. Ngarava dodged an attempted cut-in on Rashid and the ball appeared behind the man at a silly point. Hashmatullah Shahidi, taking cover, moved to his right. Fareed Ahmad, at that moment, took a step to his left.
With his attention divided between the sinking ball and the approaching Fareed, Shahidi brought down Ngarava. Rashid could not contain an angry expression towards his captain, who had extended both hands, only for the ball to never hit. Ngarava survived, but only briefly.
Ngarava played the remaining two deliveries of the over to ensure that Ervine had the strike for the next over. Starting with his overnight score of 53, and being the last recognized batsman, he had a spread out field to play with. After rejecting two singles, Ervine decided he should go for the third. He led Yamin Ahmadzai into deeper, additional cover, where the man was only three-quarters of the way to the border.
Shahidullah collected the ball while chasing it forward and fired a flat shot at the goalkeeper. Perhaps not expecting Ervine to go racing so early in the final, Ngarava was late to take off. But Ervine was already on the field at the time, and goalkeeper Afsar Zazai cleared the balls with Ngarava miles away.
The last man, Blessing Muzarabani, defended the next two deliveries and left the third alone. Ervine struck again in the next over, and Zimbabwe had yet to increase their score overnight. Rashid fell short on the first two balls but bowled much more the third time. The ball landed just outside, spun in and hit Ervine in front as he missed a sweep attempt.
Rashid and his teammates went up immediately, even as referee Ahsan Raza’s finger took its time to appear. But he finally did it, although the first impression was that the ball was missing its leg stump. However, there was no DRS to fall back on, leaving the Afghanistan players jumping and celebrating.
It was a comeback victory forged over centuries by Rahmat Shah and debutant Ismat Alam in the second innings, in which Afghanistan had kicked off 86 runs into the over. Not to be outdone with the bat, Rashid even chipped in with what turned out to be crucial innings of 25 and 23.
As a result, Afghanistan took the two-match series 1-0 after a high-scoring draw in the first Test, leaving Zimbabwe with one series win in each of the three formats.
Himanshu Agrawal is Deputy Editor of ESPNcricinfo
