ZIM vs. AFG 2024/25, ZIM vs. AFG 2nd test match report, January 2nd – 6th, 2025

Afghanistan Beaten by 157 (Rashid 25, Raza 3-30, Nyamhuri 3-42) and 363 (Rahmat 139, Alam 101, Muzarabani 6-95). Zimbabwe 243 (Ervine 75, Raza 61, Rashid 4-94) and 205 (Ervine 53, Rashid 7-66, Zia 2-44) by 72 runs

But even the short playing time on the fifth day was enough for a lot of drama. The day started with exactly what Afghanistan wanted: Rashid bowling to Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava. After four balls, Afghanistan got exactly what they wanted – almost. Ngarava fired an attempted slice past Rashid and the ball ended up in a stupid spot behind the man. Hashmatullah Shahidi, who was taking cover, moved to the right. At some point, Fareed Ahmad stepped to the left.

With his attention divided between the falling ball and the approaching fareed, Shahidi dropped Ngarava. Rashid couldn’t hold back an angry look on his face at his captain, who had both hands outstretched only for the ball to never get stuck. Ngarava survived, but not much longer.

Ngarava played out the remaining two balls of the over to ensure Ervine had the next hit. After scoring 53 overnight and being the last batsman recognized, he had a wide field to play on. After turning down two singles, Ervine decided to go for the third. He drove Yamin Ahmadzai into deep additional cover where the man had only traveled about three-quarters of the way to the boundary line.

Shahidullah collected the ball as he chased it forward and fired a low throw towards the wicketkeeper. Perhaps Ngarava did not expect Ervine to start the run so early in the over and so Ngarava was late to start. But Ervine was well down the pitch by this point and wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai was fending off the balls while Ngarava was miles away.

Last man Blessing Muzarabani defended the next two deliveries and left the third alone. Ervine scored again in the next half as Zimbabwe failed to add to their score overnight. Rashid missed the first two balls but bowled it much fuller the third time. The ball landed just in front of the goal, turned inwards and hit Ervine in front as he missed an attempted swing.

Rashid and his friends immediately went up, even if referee Ahsan Raza’s finger only appeared after some time. But eventually it happened, although the first impression was that the ball was missing leg stump. However, there was no DRS to turn to, so the Afghan players cheered and cheered.

more to come…