Afghanistan 286 for 6 (Atal 104, Malik 84, Nyamhuri 3-53) beat Zimbabwe 54 (Ghazanfar 3-9, Naveed 3-13) by 232 runs
Sediqullah Atal's maiden hundred and a superb bowling performance from the team handed Afghanistan a mammoth 232-run win as Zimbabwe were bundled out for 54 in the second ODI in Harare. Afghanistan currently lead the three-match series 1-0 after the first match was washed out. It was also Afghanistan's biggest win in ODIs in terms of runs.
The young openers Atal and Abdul Malik produced statement knocks of 104 and 84 respectively to lift the visitors to 286 for 6, after they were put in to bat on a sunny morning. Zimbabwe could not get going in the chase, losing their first four wickets for 11 runs and then losing their last six for just 22 runs.
Afghanistan's new-ball bowlers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai found more swing than the Zimbabwe quicks did in the morning and also used the variable bounce on offer to run through Zimbabwe. After opener Ben Curran departed for duck after a direct hit from Hashmatullah Shahidi from mid-on, Tadiwanashe Marumani, who was struggling against swinging deliveries, fell to Farooqi's outswinger by nicking it behind in the fifth over. Omarzai struck in the next over, drawing the outside edge of Dion Myers with an inswinger which straightened after landing. Atal at first slip got down low to complete the catch.
In the following over, Farooqi got the big wicket of Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine by inducing another outside edge to Atal at slip. Offspinner AM Ghazanfar was introduced after the tenth over and he struck twice in his first over to further dent Zimbabwe, who were clueless against the moving ball. Fast bowler Naveed Zadran, playing his third ODI, took care of the lower order and picked up two wickets in two in his third over, 17th overall, to finish with 3 for 9.
Earlier, the left-handed Atal converted his maiden ODI fifty into a big score and shared a 191-run opening stand with Malik to blunt Zimbabwe. With Ibrahim Zadran still recovering ankle injury and Rahmanullah Gurbaz ruled out of the series due to a quadriceps injury, the two inexperienced openers made the most of their chance. The start was jittery with the first five boundaries coming off the edge of the bat. However, they settled in quickly and nicely which was evident in Malik driving a pitched-up delivery from Trevor Gwandu towards mid-on for his third four in the eighth over. Two overs later, Atal punched one crisply through point to get his timing right on the ball. It was the start of Afghanistan taking charge of the game.
The Zimbabwe seamers were also wayward in patches conceding 16 extra inside the 15 overs and eventually ending the innings with 40 extras.
Atal and Malik also found the boundaries regularly. Atal got to his fifty off 81 balls, in the 23rd over. Three overs later, Malik thumped a four over midwicket off Trevor Gwandu to post his maiden half-century in 69 balls, and followed it up with a hook over deep backward square leg to bring up the first six of the innings.
Sikandar Raza bowled eight overs in a row for 34 runs, where he troubled the batters with his variations but ended the spell wicketless. Atal then smashed two sixes by coming down the track off Sean Williams to move to his 80s. Zimbabwe brought back left-armer Newman Nyamhuri in the 35th over and got the breakthrough as he deceived Malik - who had hit 11 fours and a six in his innings - with a slower one. Malik charged down to accelerate and missed the line and length as the ball crashed onto his leg stump.
Atal kept his composure and smashed Nyamhuri for a six over deep square leg in his following over, though he lost Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmat Shah at the other end. He kept the scorecard ticking and brought up his maiden hundred in the 42nd over with a six over deep backward square leg off a short ball from Richard Ngarava. Atal punched in the air, raised his bat, and bent down to the ground to mark his celebration. However, he soon departed after slicing a ball to deep third off Nyamhuri's bowling.
Zimbabwe struck late with a few wickets and slowed Afghanistan down, but Hashmatullah Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi helped stretch the total. That the debutant fast bowler Tinotenda Maposa, who replaced Blessing Muzabarani, limped off the field in the 16th over with a loud grunt after pulling his left quadriceps didn't help Zimbabwe either.
