AFG vs ZIM, 2nd Test — Day 2 Stumps: Afghanistan 159/6, Trail Zimbabwe 339 by 180 as Muzarabani Strikes Three

Brendan Taylor went to bed on 96 and spent the first half hour of the morning making sure he would not wake up on it again. The second new ball had just been taken, Afghanistan had a debutant spinner with four wickets, and a man of 40 needed four runs. It took him eight more balls, and his hundred came off 171, his second in two Tests in Sharjah. He went on to 119 before he missed a reverse sweep against Naseer Khan Maroofkhil and was lbw.

That was the end of the batting stories for the day. What followed was a long, steady squeeze. Zimbabwe's bowlers, led by Blessing Muzarabani, kept taking wickets just as Afghanistan's partnerships looked like settling, and by stumps Afghanistan were 159 for 6, 180 behind. In a series that has so far been all about bat, the ball has started to talk.

Zimbabwe resumed on 250 for 5 and added 89. Taylor and Tafadzwa Tsiga took their sixth-wicket stand to 42 before Taylor fell at 289 in the 98th over, and Tsiga followed for 20 a few balls later, caught behind off Ziaur Rahman. At lunch Zimbabwe were 312 for 7. Naseer then struck with successive balls straight after the break: Graeme Cremer lbw, Vincent Masekesa bowled by one that spun past the bat and hit off stump. That was 312 for 9. Brad Evans, batting at No. 8, saw the score past 330, hitting two sixes in his 32 not out, before Yamin Ahmadzai bowled Muzarabani to end the innings at 339.

Naseer finished with 7 for 151 off 44 overs, reported to be the second-best figures by an Afghanistan bowler on Test debut. It was a huge workload: 44 of the 114.5 overs, more than a third of the innings, and he took seven of the ten wickets. Ziaur took two and Yamin one, while Mohammad Saleem bowled 25 overs without one.

Afghanistan's reply started badly. Muzarabani had Sediqullah Atal caught behind by Tsiga for 1 in the fifth over, and Evans bowled Abdul Malik for 18 to make it 27 for 2 at drinks. Rahmanullah, with three fours and a six in his 34, and Hashmatullah Shahidi took them to tea at 54 for 2 and on to 73 before Masekesa had Rahmanullah caught by Taylor. Masekesa then trapped Hashmatullah lbw for 30, and Muzarabani did the same to Rahmat Shah, who made 173 in the first Test, for 30. Four of the top five got a start; none went past 34.

Afsar Zazai, unbeaten on 33 off 65 balls, is the one who has stayed. He and Rahmat added 36 for the fifth wicket, and he and Ikram Alikhil had added 18 before Muzarabani bowled Ikram with the score on 154. Naseer, the hero of the morning, survived the last few overs with him.

This surface is not the batting road of the first Test, where three totals of 500 or more were made. Naseer found turn throughout Zimbabwe's innings, including the ball that beat Masekesa to hit off stump, and Taylor's lbw came from a full ball aimed at the stumps. Zimbabwe's seamers then got more from it than Afghanistan's did: Muzarabani and Evans went for 55 in 24 overs between them, with four wickets. With Zimbabwe's lead already 180 and three days left, batting last could be a real test.

Our preview leaned towards a draw if the pitch played like the first one, and gave Zimbabwe a small edge if it wore. Two days in, the pitch is already doing more than the first one did, and Zimbabwe are clearly ahead. We said batting first and making a big score was probably the surest route to a result, and 339 has turned out to be a big score on this surface. Win probabilities on CricIntel are built for T20 cricket, so we keep this Test check to the story rather than the numbers.

Afghanistan have passed the follow-on mark, but trail by 180 with four wickets left, and everything rests on Zazai and the tail. Every run they add cuts into a lead that could otherwise be decisive. For Zimbabwe, an early wicket or two would let them bat again with a lead near 200 and three days to set a target, and their bowlers will want to get at Afghanistan's batters before Naseer and the spinners do the same to theirs.