ZIM vs AFG 2024/25, Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan 2nd ODI, Harare match report, December 19, 2024

Afghanistan Beaten at 286 for 6 (Atal 104, Malik 84, Nyamhuri 3-53). Zimbabwe 54 (Ghazanfar 3-9, Naveed 3-13) for 232 runs

Afghanistan’s new-ball bowlers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai found more momentum than the Zimbabwe quicks in the morning and also used the variable bounce on offer to run through Zimbabwe. After opener Ben Curran was run out to duck after a direct hit from Hashmatullah Shahidi in the middle, Tadiwanashe Marumani, struggling with swinging deliveries, fell prey to Farooqi’s outside swing by putting him behind in the fifth over. Omarzai struck in the next over, pulling the outside edge of Dion Myers with an inswinger that righted itself after landing. Atal went deep at first slip to complete the catch.

In the following over, Farooqi secured the big wicket of Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine by giving Atal another outside edge at slip. Offspinner AM Ghazanfar came on after the tenth over and struck twice in his first over to further trouble Zimbabwe, who were oblivious to the moving ball. Fast bowler Naveed Zadran, playing his third ODI, took care of the lower order and took two wickets in two in his third over, the 17th in total, to finish with 3 for 9.

Earlier, left-hander Atal converted his maiden ODI fifty into a big scorer, sharing a 191-run opening stand with Malik to defeat Zimbabwe. With Ibrahim Zadran still recovering from an ankle injury and Rahmanullah Gurbaz ruled out of the series due to a quadriceps injury, the two inexperienced openers seized their chance. The start was nervous as the first five boundaries went beyond the edge of the bat. However, they settled in quickly and well, which was evident when Malik blasted a pitch-up from Trevor Gwandu into the middle of the field for his third four-pointer in the eighth. Two overs later, Atal hit a crisp spot to find the right timing on the ball. It was the beginning of Afghanistan taking control of the game.

The Zimbabwean seamers were also unhappy at times, conceding 16 extra goals in the 15 overs and eventually finishing the innings with 40 extras.

Atal and Malik also regularly found the boundaries. Atal reached his fifty off 81 balls in the 23rd over. Three overs later, Malik struck a four-over midwicket blow to Trevor Gwandu to score his maiden half-century off 69 balls and then followed it up with a hook over deep backward square leg to take the first six innings .

Sikandar Raza bowled 34 runs in eight overs in a row, troubling the batters with his variations but ending the spell without a wicket. Atal then smashed two sixes by overtaking Sean Williams’ track and moving on to his 80s. Zimbabwe brought back left-armer newman Nyamhuri in the 35th over and made the breakthrough when he deceived Malik – who had hit 11 fours and a six in his innings – with a slower one. Malik charged down to accelerate but missed the line and length as the ball bounced onto his leg stump.

Atal kept his composure and smashed Nyamhuri for a six-over deep square leg in his following over, despite losing Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmat Shah at the other end. He kept the scorecard ticking and scored his first hundred in the 42nd over with a six over deep back-square leg off a short ball from Richard Ngarava. Atal punched the air, raised his bat and bowed to the ground in celebration. However, he was soon out again after hitting a ball from Nyamhuri’s bowling into the deep third.

Zimbabwe struck late with a few wickets to slow Afghanistan down, but Hashmatullah Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi helped increase the total. The fact that debutant fast Tinotenda Maposa, who replaced Blessing Muzabarani, limped off the field in the 16th over with a loud grunt after pulling his left quadriceps didn’t help Zimbabwe either.