5:11pm That will be all from us for this game. We hope you enjoyed our coverage and look forward to having your company for all the cricket lined up in the next few days. Until next time, this is goodbye from all of us!
Darwish Rasooli is the Player of the Match for his 42-ball 58, which was also his maiden T20I fifty!
Rashid Khan, Afghanistan captain: The area we are still struggling is the top order. The way Darwish played, it was very impressive. We were struggling to find someone in that position, so very happy. The way the guys bowled, it was very impressive. We missed our lines and lengths in the last game. It was about keeping it simple, hitting the right areas and then seeing what would happen (today). It is a big ground to one side and you have to adjust yourself. Not many sixes were hit today and the other day as well. It is about how you play more along the ground and play more cricketing shots. It is not impossible to score more runs at the end but at the start, you have to adapt and spend some tough time. Then, it gets easier. We are always searching for someone who bats at four. The target is for the next World Cup. Number three-four - that is the area we are looking at. The good thing is he (Rasooli) has done well (in the Emerging players tournament). The way he was looking good in the nets was impressive and I was waiting for him to take that into the game.
Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe captain: (On what went wrong) The batting. Seems to be our Achilles heel. Still struggling to score that total. Has been a problem for some time. There is quality in the dressing room and I am backing the boys to do the job, but certainly painful to see us failing to do the job. Our openers were starting to find a bit of a pattern on how to go about it. Matter of time before these three (the top three of Bennett, Marumani and Myers) win us a game on their own. We were in the game at (40 for two) but could not capitalize after the powerplay. Our bowling and fielding was fantastic. It was a better wicket than yesterday, and we were confident we could get it (the chase) done. That is why this (defeat) hurts. These guys (Afghanistan) are semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup. If you want to beat them, you have to beat them in all departments. We will find character and courage in the dressing room, which we sure will have lots of, to beat them (in all departments).
4:52pm A fairly one-sided game in the end. At the half-way stage, it seemed Afghanistan had enough and they bowled like a team that felt so too. Naveen picked up Marumani early, with Myers also perishing inside the powerplay. Madhevere could not get going either and once Afghanistan introduced spin in tandem, the writing was on the wall for the hosts. Raza waged a lone battle but the runs he scored only acted as consolation rather than as a catalyst for a turnaround.
As for the wickets, Rashid and Naveen bagged three apiece. Mujeeb also bowled much better than Wednesday, with Fareed and Omarzai chipping in whenever called upon, ensuring that Afghanistan, after a blip two days ago, are now back on track.
B Muzarabani b Fareed Ahmad 1 (10m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Fareed to bowl his last
END OF OVER:17 | 6 Runs 1 Wkt | ZIM: 101/9 (53 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.94, RRR: 17.66)
- Trevor Gwandu0 (3b)
- Blessing Muzarabani0 (1b)
- Naveen-ul-Haq4-0-19-3
- Rashid Khan4-0-20-3
Shane: "The guy who predicted ZIM was gonna get bundled below 100 was so close, I say moral victory for him!"
Gwandu is the last batter in
Sikandar Raza c Azmatullah Omarzai b Naveen-ul-Haq 35 (47m 30b 2x4 1x6) SR: 116.66
57 off 23
Naveen to bowl out too
