Dominant Afghanistan secure another T20I Series Win

Another terrific all-round performance from Mohammad Nabi with bat and bowl, complimented with some terrific batting from Usman Ghani and Karim Janat ensured Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by 45 runs in the second match of Abu Dhabi Sunshine T20I Series and take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.

Skipper Asghar Afghan won the ball and opted to bat first with the squad unchanged from the first T20I. The Man of the Match in the first T20I, Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out in the second over giving Zimbabwe an early breakthrough. However, Karim Janat and Usman Ghani batted brilliantly as the former brought up his maiden half-century in T20Is while Ghani was out for 49. The star performer with the bat though was the senior All-rounder Mohammad Nabi who scored a quick-fire 40 off just 15 deliveries to propel Afghanistan to a challenging total of 193/5 in their allotted 20 overs.

In response, Zimbabwe lost quick wickets early on as four of their batsmen were back to the pavilion within the first powerplay while senior batsman Sikandar Raza was out in the seventh over. Ryan Burl and Donald Tiripano gave a late flourish to their team with 40 and 24 runs respectively, which was not enough to tackle the spin threat of Rashid Khan who took three wickets in the third over of his 50^th T20I match, effectively dismantling the Zimbabwean line-up and finishing any chances of victory to give Afghanistan another series win in the T20Is.

The final match of the Abu Dhabi Sunshine T20I Series will be played tomorrow at the same venue.