Zimbabwe were 26 for 3 in the final, and Afghanistan won the UAE tri-series without losing a game

Zimbabwe chose to bat in the final of the UAE tri-series in Sharjah, and they were 26 for 3 inside seven overs. Sikandar Raza made 68 to get them to 169, which was nowhere near enough. Afghanistan knocked the runs off in 34.3 overs on Friday 23 October and won by seven wickets with 93 balls to spare.

That makes it three wins from three in the series for Afghanistan. Ibrahim Zadran was named player of the match for an unbeaten 70, and Rashid Khan was player of the series with 11 wickets.

Raza against everyone else

Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Tadiwanashe Marumani in the fifth over. Azmatullah Omarzai then caught and bowled Brian Bennett, and Farooqi came back to have Tafadzwa Tsiga caught by AM Ghazanfar. Brendan Taylor was caught behind off Bilal Sami for 7, and Zimbabwe were 55 for 4 in the 13th over.

Raza and Ryan Burl added 60 for the fifth wicket and had Zimbabwe at 115 for 4 in the 27th over. Then Burl, on 31, was caught by Sami off Mohammad Nabi, and the rest of the innings fell away quickly. Nabi had Wessly Madhevere stumped by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and three wickets went for five runs.

Rashid did most of that damage. He trapped Brad Evans lbw for 1, bowled Newman Nyamhuri for a duck, and then had Raza caught by Zadran in the 34th over. His 68 came off 83 balls with three fours and three sixes, and nobody else in the side passed 31.

Zimbabwe were 137 for 9 at that point. Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani then batted for nearly ten overs and added 32, the second-best stand of the innings, before Sami trapped Masakadza lbw in the 44th over. Muzarabani was left on 17 not out.

Five wicket-takers and an easy chase

Five Afghanistan bowlers took wickets. Rashid finished with 3 for 41 from his ten overs, Nabi with 2 for 25 from ten, Sami with 2 for 27 and Farooqi with 2 for 41. Omarzai’s five overs cost six runs.

The chase was never a contest. Zadran and Gurbaz had 68 on the board in the tenth over when Gurbaz was caught by Madhevere off Nyamhuri for 36 off 31 balls, with two sixes. Nyamhuri also had Sediqullah Atal caught behind for 6, but at 80 for 2 Afghanistan only needed another 90.

Rahmat Shah, the captain, and Zadran took them most of the way there. There was no hurry, and they put on 82 for the third wicket before Burl caught Rahmat off Madhevere for 43. Hashmatullah Shahidi hit the winning four, with Zadran unbeaten on 70 off 96 balls.

Three games, three heavy wins

Afghanistan were never in trouble in this series. They beat Zimbabwe by 158 runs in Abu Dhabi on 19 October, when Rashid took 4 for 17 and Zimbabwe were bowled out for 136, and then beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in Sharjah two days later, with Rashid taking 4 for 31. His 3 for 41 in the final took him to 11 wickets in three games.

Zimbabwe’s only win came in the opening game, by 99 runs against Bangladesh. Against Afghanistan their top order fell apart in both meetings. In the final, Raza and Burl made 99 of the 169, and the other nine batters made 61 between them.

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