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ZIM vs AFG 2024/25, Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan 3rd ODI, Harare Match Report, December 21, 2024

December 21, 2024

Afghanistan 131 for 2 (Atal 52, Gwandu 1-27) won Zimbabwe 127 (Williams 60, Ghazanfar 5-33, Rashid 3-38) by eight wickets

Sean Williams swept Rashid Khan in Zimbabwe’s 24th innings, but the ball sailed over the top edge to Hashmatullah Shahidi at midwicket. Shahidi tried to catch it with a reverse shot but dropped the ball, possibly due to the sun in his eyes, and drew the loudest applause yet from the sparse crowd at the Harare Sports Club.

They didn’t really have much going for them as Zimbabwe were 89 for 8 at that stage. Williams, on 33 at the time, scored 60 with just under a run and dragged his team to 127 in 30.1 overs. Afghanistan cleared the target of 128 with eight wickets and 23 overs in the bank. Sediqullah Atal followed up a knock of 104 from the second ODI with 52 off 50 balls in the third, hitting four fours and two sixes along the way, and Afghanistan completed a 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe after the first ODI was washed out .

That gave Afghanistan their sixth consecutive ODI series victory over Zimbabwe, who have yet to beat them in a bilateral series in seven attempts; the first, in July 2014, was shared 2-2.

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.

But Afghanistan’s victory on Saturday was brought about by 18-year-old AM Ghazanfar. He bowled his quota of ten overs unchanged from the seventh and finished with 5 for 33, his second ODI five in just 11 games. Shahidi decided to bowl first after winning the toss, and his players proved the decision correct. Afghanistan’s seamers were making measurable swing even after the powerplay, while their spinners almost magically turned the ball both ways.

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.

Zimbabwe’s innings included a mini collapse as well as a major collapse. But before any of those things, Afghanistan’s new bowlers Fareed Ahmed and Azmatullah Omarzai kept a tight rein on opening batsmen Curran and Joylord Gumbie. Twenty-two of the first 28 balls were points; there were four more to start the seventh, after which Zimbabwe lost three wickets for five runs in a very short time.

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.

But when he went to sweep Rashid in the 28th minute, Williams ended up tickling one into a slide, where Mohammad Nabi caught him. Zimbabwe’s innings lasted just another 15 balls, in which Ngarava and Trevor Gwandu added eight runs. The loss capped a year in which Zimbabwe’s collective batting average was at an all-time low of 14.22 (with a minimum of nine innings of batting).

Himanshu Agrawal is Deputy Editor of ESPNcricinfo

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