afghanistan 286 for 6 wickets (Atal 104, Malik 84, Nyamahuri 3-53) defeated zimbabwe 54 (Ghazanfar 3-9, Naveed 3-13) by 232 runs
Afghanistan’s new-ball bowlers Fazalhaq Farooqui and Azmatullah Omarzai got more swing than Zimbabwe’s fast bowlers in the morning and they also used the variable bounce on offer to hammer runs through Zimbabwe. After opener Ben Curran was out for a duck following a direct hit from mid-on to Hashmatullah Shahidi, Tadivanashe Marumani, who was struggling against swinging deliveries, fell behind the wicket to an outswinger from Faruqui in the fifth over. In the next over, Umarzai pulled the outside edge off Dion Myers with an inswinger which went straight after landing. Atal came down to first slip to complete the catch.
In the next over, Faruqui gave another outside edge to Atal at slip and got the big wicket of Zimbabwe captain Craig Erwin. Offspinner AM Ghazanfar was brought in after the tenth over and he twice in his first over further troubled Zimbabwe, who were clueless against the moving ball. Fast bowler Navid Zadran, playing his third ODI, took charge down the order and took two wickets in his third over, his 17th overall, and finished with 3 wickets for 9 runs.
Earlier, left-handed Atal converted his first ODI half-century into a big score and made a 191-run partnership for the first wicket with Malik to blunt Zimbabwe’s edge. With Ibrahim Zadran still recovering from an ankle injury and Rahmanullah Gurbaz ruled out of the series with a quadriceps injury, the two inexperienced opening batsmen made the most of their chances. The start was nervous and the first five fours came off the edge of the bat. However, they settled quickly and well, which was evident from Malik driving Trevor Gwandu’s pitched-up delivery towards mid-on for his third four in the eighth over. Two overs later, Atal got his timing right on the ball with a crisp punch through point. This was the beginning of Afghanistan’s takeover of the game.
Zimbabwe’s fast bowlers were also poor at times, conceding 16 extra runs in 15 overs and eventually ending the innings with 40 extra runs.
Atal and Malik also regularly explored boundaries. Atal completed his half-century in 81 balls in the 23rd over. Three overs later, Malik brought up his maiden half-century in 69 balls by hitting a four over midwicket off Trevor Gwandu and followed it up with a hook over deep backward square leg for his first six of the innings.
Sikandar Raza bowled eight consecutive overs and conceded 34 runs, where he troubled the batsmen with his variations but the spell ended without taking a wicket. After this, Atal came on the track and hit two sixes on the ball of Sean Williams and played his innings of 80 runs. Zimbabwe recalled left-handed batsman Newman Nyamauri in the 35th over and found success as he deceived Malik – who had hit 11 fours and a six in his innings – with a slower one. Malik came down to accelerate and missed the line and length and the ball hit his leg stump.
Atal maintained his composure and hit Nyamauri for a six over deep square leg in his next over, although he lost Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmat Shah at the other end. He kept the scorecard going and completed his maiden century in the 42nd over with a six over deep backward square leg off a short ball from Richard Ngarava. Atal punched the air, picked up his bat and knelt on the ground to celebrate. However, he soon departed after slicing a ball from Nyamauri to deep third.
Zimbabwe slowed Afghanistan’s pace by taking a few late wickets, but Hashmatullah Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi helped boost the total. Debutant fast bowler Tinotenda Maphosa, who replaced Blessing Muzabarani, left the field with a loud grunt in the 16th over after pulling his left quadriceps, doing Zimbabwe no favors.
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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