Afghanistan beat the Chevrons to level the T20 series

By Sports Reporter

AFGHANISTAN had every reason to celebrate on Friday afternoon after beating hosts Zimbabwe by 50 runs at the Harare Sports Club.

The win gave the visitors sweet revenge for their four-wicket defeat in the opening match of the series played last Wednesday at the same venue.

With the score line tied, the two sides will now play the final series match on Saturday afternoon to have the winner of the first side of the white-ball series, which will be followed by a three-match One Day Internationals (ODI) series . .

Talking about Friday’s clash, Afghanistan posted a total of 153 runs for six in 20 overs, a target which Zimbabwe struggled to chase as they were restricted to 103 runs in 17.4 overs.

Team captain Sikandar Raza was the best batsman for the Chevrons after he posted 35 runs, 23 short of Darwish Rasoolis who posted 58, to mark his maiden half-century for Afghanistan.

After the match, Raza said, “Our Achilles’ heel was once again our batting. We are still struggling to post good totals consistently.

“Our bowling and fielding was fantastic. It was a better wicket than Wednesday and we were confident we could reach the target of 154 runs. That’s why this loss hurts so much.

“Afghanistan were semi-finalists in the last T20 World Cup. So if you want to beat them, you have to beat them in all departments.”

A win for Zimbabwe today, Saturday, will see them record their first series win of the year at home.

The Chevrons are fresh from a white-ball series defeat against Pakistan, who beat them 2-1 in both the three-match T20 series and ODI matches at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.