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Sharjah: History came to haunt Zimbabwe once again as Afghanistan made a miraculous comeback with the ball, after a poor outing with the ball, as they skittled Zimbabwe for a paltry total of 82, thus registering a thrilling 49-run win in the opening One-Day International at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.
Amir Hazma’s four-wicket hail and Mohammad Nabi’s three-wicket spell was enough to destry Zimbabwe’s shaky batting line-up. Zimbabwe had earlier been in similar situation in 2006 at Harare against Kenya, where they had bowled Kenya out for 132, but were squandered for mere 69 during the chase.
Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai won the toss and elected to bat first as they got skittled for mere 131, owing to spinner Graeme Cremer’s impressive figure of five for 20.
Zimbabwe started the chase on a shaky note with Chamu Chibha bha falling for an unfortunate duck to Hamza, with just a single run on the board. With more runs added, it was CraigErvibne, who fell for mere six to Mirwais Ashraf, followed by Richmond Mutumbani for an other unfortunate duck to the same man, after a run.
It was the pair of opener Peter Moor and skipper Elton Chigumbura, who added 35 runs to the total, but it was at the score of 47, when Moor fell for 21 to Hamza, and 17 run later, it was Chigumbura, who fell for 28 to Mohammad Nabi, thus being the highest scorer of the innings.
Following his dismissal, none of the incloming batsmen were strong enough as they made the easy chase ;look extremely difficult and fell like a pile of cards as they surrendered themselves to the Afghan bowlers.
It was at the score of 64, when a couple of other batsmen in the form of Sikandar Raza (6) was run out and Malcolm Waller was dismissed for a duck by Nabi.
Although there was a 14-run stand between Luke Jongwe and Graeme Cremer, it was not enough as at the score of 78, it was Jongwe, who was bowled by Hamza, followed by Hamilton Masakadza for duck to Mohammad Nabi, while Taurai Muzrabani was the final man to be dismissed by Hamza for a couple as Afghanistan registered a miraculous 49-run win over the visitors, while Hamza was declared Man of the Match.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan - 131 (Noor Asli Zardan 63, Cremer 5-20)
Zimbabwe - 82 (Amir Hamza 4-17, Mohammad Nabi 3-15)
Result - Afghanistan won by 49 runs.
MOM - Amir Hamza (Afghanistan)
