Afghanistan Beat Zimbabwe by 7 Wickets to Win the UAE ODI Tri-Series — Ibrahim Zadran's 70 Not Out Seals the Final

Afghanistan came into the final having won both their league games, the first of them against Zimbabwe by 158 runs. Zimbabwe chose to bat in Sharjah, hoping that runs on the board would make it a different kind of match. For 13 overs it looked like the same match again. Zimbabwe were 55 for 4, and their top order had failed for the third time in the tournament.

Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl got them to 115 before Zimbabwe lost five wickets for 22. A last-wicket stand of 32 took them to 169, which was never going to be enough. Afghanistan chased it in 34.3 overs, losing only three wickets. They won all three of their matches and the trophy, and they barely looked troubled at any stage.

Six different Afghanistan bowlers took wickets or kept things tight, and the fielding was as good as the bowling. Farooqi bowled Tadiwanashe Marumani with one that came back sharply in the fifth over. In the next over Azmatullah Omarzai took a one-handed return catch to remove Brian Bennett. Then AM Ghazanfar took a superb one-handed catch at short square leg to send back Tafadzwa Tsiga off Farooqi. Zimbabwe lost three wickets for four runs. Omarzai's five overs cost only six runs. When Bilal Sami had Brendan Taylor caught behind in the 13th over, Zimbabwe were 55 for 4.

Nabi was the bowler who broke the recovery. Burl miscued a short ball to deep square leg, where Sami took a tumbling catch. Soon after, Rahmanullah Gurbaz stumped Wessly Madhevere off a ball that deflected off his pad. According to ESPNcricinfo, that was Nabi's 300th wicket across formats in international cricket. Rashid then took three quick wickets. Brad Evans was lbw, Newman Nyamhuri was bowled, and Raza was caught at long-off going for a second big hit in the over. ESPNcricinfo noted that this made Rashid only the second bowler in ODI history to take at least three wickets in six successive innings.

The chase was simple. Zadran hit Evans for a big six in the fourth over, and Gurbaz took on the seamers, making 36 from 31 balls with two sixes. Nyamhuri removed Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal, but Zadran and captain Rahmat Shah simply took singles. They went 77 balls without a boundary and never looked under pressure. Rahmat fell with eight runs needed, caught by Burl at short midwicket for 43, and Hashmatullah Shahidi hit the winning boundary in the 35th over.

Zimbabwe's top three made 25 runs between them, and that was the story of their whole tournament. Raza came in at 26 for 3, which ESPNcricinfo described as a familiar situation. He and Burl played out Rashid's first spell and added 60 from 87 balls. Burl was dropped on 30 by Zadran, and Raza reached his fifty. At 115 for 4 in the 27th over, Zimbabwe had a chance of a competitive total. Then Burl fell next ball after Raza's fifty, and Zimbabwe lost five wickets for 22.

Raza hit three fours and three sixes, including a 98-metre six off Rashid, in his 68. ESPNcricinfo reported that he is the first batter aged 40 or over to make a fifty in an ODI tournament final, and the second Zimbabwe captain to make a fifty in a final, after Alistair Campbell in 1997. It deserved a better total. Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani's 32 for the last wicket, over almost ten overs, was Zimbabwe's second-highest stand. That tells you how little support Raza had. The bowlers also had little to work with. Nyamhuri took two wickets in six overs, but 169 was far too few.

The early movement for the seamers was the same as in Afghanistan's win over Bangladesh at Sharjah two days earlier. Farooqi got the ball to come back sharply, and Omarzai conceded six runs in five overs. Once the shine had gone, batting got easier. The Raza–Burl stand showed that, and so did the way Zadran and Rahmat batted in the chase. The spinners got grip, though Nabi's 10 overs for 25 were as much about accuracy as turn. This was a surface where you needed to survive the first ten overs, and only one team did.

Zadran's 70 not out came from 96 balls with four fours and one six. It was his second half-century of the tournament. He started fast, attacking Evans early, and then let Gurbaz be the aggressive one. After Afghanistan lost two quick wickets to go to 80 for 2, he slowed down and batted with Rahmat until the target was almost reached. It was not a spectacular innings, and it didn't need to be. He made sure there was no collapse, and he was there at the end, as an opener should be in a chase of 170.

Rashid was named Player of the Series, which nobody would argue with. His 3 for 41 here followed four-wicket hauls against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the league stage.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there is no prediction to grade. In our review of Afghanistan's win over Bangladesh, we wrote that Zimbabwe would need early breakthroughs like Taskin Ahmed's to have a chance in the final. They did take two wickets in quick succession through Nyamhuri, but with only 169 to defend they needed far more than that. We'll have full analysis before the next encounter.

Afghanistan won all three matches. They beat Zimbabwe twice and Bangladesh once, and they never looked like losing. Zadran, Rahmat and Rashid were consistent throughout, and Omarzai and Farooqi did the early damage. For Zimbabwe the question is the top order. Bennett, Marumani and Tsiga need to give Raza a platform, because at 40 he cannot keep rescuing the side from 26 for 3.