Afghanistan 131 for 2 (Atal 52, Gwandu 1-27) won Zimbabwe 127 (Williams 60, Ghazanfar 5-33, Rashid 3-38) by eight wickets
The chase began with just 15 runs from the first six overs, as Zimbabwe held firm. But Atal drove to a four-over lead over Richard Ngarava in the seventh over, and that got Afghanistan going. Although Abdul Malik, the other opener, took his time, Atal attacked from the other end to raise the fifty mark in the 11th over. The partnership ended at 83 when Ngarava had Malik attack for 29, before Brian Bennett ran blindly and dived to his left to send Atal back. Shahidi and Rahmat Shah, however, had no problems finishing the job.
Eight of the ten wickets went to Ghazanfar and Rashid, who took 3 for 38. However, that was a result of both batsmen not reading them well and the on-field umpires making questionable decisions, perhaps not reading the bowlers well either. . In a series where teams have no DRS to fall back on, Craig Ervine and Ben Curran returned disgruntled. Even Sikandar Raza shook his head when Rashid gave him lbw, but whether he did it because he was disappointed with the umpire or himself… who knows.
It started with Gumbie beating Ghazanfar’s attempted sweep to short fine leg. Omarzai then got one to get away from Ervine, who squared up as he passed the ball. Ervine was trapped behind it, but there was no visible indentation. Ghazanfar then got his second when he trapped Curran in front for 12 in the ninth over, although the first impression was that the ball was heading towards the leg side.
Seniors Raza and Williams rebuilt briefly thereafter. Williams scored 21 runs off his first 22 balls, including three fours and sixes, after 14 overs. But come the 16th over, Raza’s wicket triggered a period in which Zimbabwe lost five wickets for 29 runs. He was hit on the back leg by one that turned towards Rashid, and was adjudged lbw for 13. In his next over, Rashid also had Bennett lbw googly, as Bennett bowled on the wrong line.
Ghazanfar then got two more in a row, almost identically. He cleaned up the two left-handed batsmen Tadiwanashe Marumani and Wellington Masakadza in the final over, the 19th over of the innings, and each time, rounding the wicket, the carrom ball did the trick. Both batsmen crossed the line and left a big gap between bat and pad for the ball to hit the stump. In the hat-trick, Ghazanfar edged Newman Nyamhuri to the outside edge, and Shahidi made as many as three slips to the right-hander.
Williams, meanwhile, continued to function at the other end even when he ran out of partners. He hit Rashid for four at mid-wicket and hit him for six at square leg, while Ghazanfar completed his five by having Nyamhuri on the top edge to slip through mid-on.
Williams added 30 for the ninth wicket with Ngarava, and scored his 36th ODI fifty when he hit debutant seamer Bilal Sami to deep backward point. Williams had also hit birthday boy Sami for four consecutive six balls in the 14th over.
Himanshu Agrawal is Deputy Editor of ESPNcricinfo
