After being sent into bat first, Afghanistan heavily scored with the bat courtesy of batting prowess from their opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Besides scoring a quick-fire 87 runs off 45 deliveries, he was involved in two fifty-plus partnerships – one each for the first and second wickets! Their captain Asghar Afghan too contributed with the bat scoring a half-century (55 runs of 38 balls). Courtesy of these knocks, Afghanistan ended up with a mammoth 198/5 in 20 overs.
Donald Tiripano was the most expensive bowler for Zimbabwe in this match having conceded 46 runs from his 4 overs without a wicket. During the chase, Zimbabwe we did not show up as a batting unit as they were bundled for just 150 runs conceding a 48-run victory for the hosts. None of the Zimbabwe batters played according to the situation and the Required Run Rate kept climbing with each wicket falling. Their opener Tinashe Kamunhukamwe top scored for them with 44 runs.
Rashid Khan was the pick of their bowlers with bowling figures of 3/28 from his 4 overs. Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been named ‘Player of the Match’ for his brilliant batting at the top of the order. With this 48-run victory, Afghanistan have taken a lead of 1-0 in the 3-match T20I series. The second T20I match is scheduled to be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday (Mar 19).
Brief Scores: Afghanistan – 198/5 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz – 87, Asghar Afghan – 55, Blessing Muzarabani – 2/38, Richard Ngarava – 2/43) defeated Zimbabwe – 150/7 in 20 overs (Tinashe Kamunhukamwe – 44, Sikandar Raza – 22, Rashid Khan – 3/28, Karim Zanat – 2/14) by a margin of 48 runs
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