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India’s bowling coach says: “He hasn’t played the IPL and the World Cup as well. That does make a difference”

Sidharth Monga01-Dec-20212:35

Mhambrey: ‘Ashwin is a match-winner, hands down’

At 97 Tests, Ishant Sharma was arguably the most improved bowler in the history of Test cricket. In the first half of his career at that point, Ishant averaged 38.44. In the second half he took wickets at 27.21 each. In the last third – which was 33 Tests – he averaged 22.90. In his last 18 Tests at that point, he conceded only 19.14 runs per wicket. Since the injury in New Zealand, though, he has averaged 32.71 over eight Tests, which is back to being consistent with his career numbers. Commentators have said during the England tour and the Kanpur Test that he has lacked rhythm, which affects the pace and the movement you generate.

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India’s new bowling coach Paras Mhambrey feels it is a matter of getting overs in his legs before he regains the rhythm. “Ishant hasn’t played much Test cricket for a long time,” Mhambrey said after the team landed in Mumbai. “He hasn’t played the IPL and the World Cup as well. That does make a difference. Yes we are working on it. He has got enough experience under his belt.”Ishant went wicketless in his 22 overs in Kanpur but Mhambrey said it was not a big concern because he still brings with him the experience of 105 Tests. “Obviously it makes a huge difference having him in the dressing room with the experience that he has,” Mhambrey said. “An opportunity for other bowlers to spend some time with him and understand the nuances of fast bowling. He is a great help around. Something which we will work on is his rhythm. We are aware of it. He needs a couple of games under his belt to get that rhythm going. He will be back for sure.”Ishant Sharma has averaged 32.71 over eight Tests since his injury in New Zealand•PTI

Does that mean Ishant gets to play in Mumbai to get back into rhythm or does Mohammed Siraj replace him? Or do both of them play?Related

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“We will have a look at the wicket, then we will see what combination is right: three spinners and two seamers or two spinners and three seamers,” Mhmabrey said. “Depending on that we will decide the playing XI. But everybody in the group believes whoever is part of the team is good enough to represent the country. And we know that the potential they have in winning the games for us. We will decide the combination on the surface, but whomever plays, we believe, has the ability to win the game for India.”India’s training two days before the Test was cancelled because of rain in Mumbai so they perhaps don’t know yet what the pitch has to offer. India will be hoping there is more on offer than there was in Kanpur. “I think we are happy, honestly,” Mhambrey said when asked about the bowling effort in Kanpur where India fell one wicket short of a win. “If you look at the outcome of the game – yes we want to win the Test match, we were so close – but looking at the wicket it was not that kind of surface.1:58

Jaffer: Siraj might replace Ishant in Mumbai

“We knew in the morning that this is not the kind of surface where you turn up and run through a side. We knew it was going to be hard work. Especially there was no bounce, the ball was keeping low. Unfortunately, a couple of edges didn’t carry. Had that happened it would have been a different result. A lot of positive we can take, especially in the effort that we put in. Honestly, I feel we made a game out of it. Picking 19 wickets on that surface wasn’t easy. But we really took it to the end.”One of the big efforts was made by Umesh Yadav.”Very happy with the way Umesh bowled, especially in the second innings,” Mhmabrey said. “There was one spell where he troubled Kane and that’s so positive and happy to see it on that kind of surface. He created opportunities for us. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the wicket. [But] That created opportunities for others to rally around. Very happy to see that on that pitch. A really, really special spell. We wanted someone to put his hand up and say, ‘I will give it my best’. He tried his best even though he didn’t pick the wicket.”While Mhambrey will be involved in the selection of the bowlers, he is glad he is not part of the group that will decide who makes way for the returning captain, Virat Kohli. There is also likely to be a debate around Wriddhiman Saha, who didn’t keep for long in the last Test because of a stiff neck, and KS Bharat. That decision, Mhambrey said, was going to be made based on the physios’ assessment of Saha’s injury. As of now he has neither been cleared nor ruled out.

Jackson’s 134 and Sakariya’s 5 for 62 went in vain for Saurashtra whereas Services were bowled out for 204 by Himachal Pradesh

Hemant Brar24-Dec-2021Baba Aparajith’s 122 trumped Sheldon Jackson’s 134 and Chetan Sakariya’s 5 for 62 as Tamil Nadu beat Saurashtra in a last-ball thriller at the KL Saini Ground in Jaipur to qualify for the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22.Aparajith’s 124-ball knock, which included 12 fours and three sixes, ensured the required rate was never a problem for Tamil Nadu in their 311-run chase. He was well supported by his brother Baba Indrajith, with whom he added 97 off 107 balls for the third wicket, and Washington Sundar, with whom he stitched 76 in 79 balls for the fifth wicket.When Aparajith got out in the 43rd over, Tamil Nadu needed 67 from 44 balls with five wickets in hand and a set Washington in the middle. The incoming batter, Shahrukh Khan, then hit Jaydev Unadkat for a six and a four to reduce the equation to 32 required from four overs.It started looking like Saurashtra had all but lost the game, but Sakariya removed both Shahrukh and Washington (70 off 61) in his successive overs to dent Tamil Nadu once again. At the start of the chase, he had dismissed N Jagadeesan and Vijay Shankar to reduce Tamil Nadu to 23 for 2 in the fourth over.On the last ball of the 49th over, Sakariya sent back M Siddharth to complete his maiden five-wicket haul in List A cricket, leaving Tamil Nadu eight down.With seven required from the final over, Chirag Jani conceded only four off the first four balls against R Sai Kishore and Ragupathy Silambarasan. But a wide and a single on the penultimate ball by Silambarasan tied the scores. Kishore then hit the last ball for four to seal the match.In the morning, Saurashtra lost Harvik Desai early after being asked to bat. Jackson and Vishvaraj Jadeja took the side past 100 in the 22nd over; both Jackson and Jadeja brought up their half-centuries before left-arm spinner Siddharth broke the 92-run stand with the latter’s wicket. But at 123 for 2 in 25.2 overs, the platform was set for a big total.Prerak Mankad (37 off 32) and Arpit Vasavada (57 off 40) took full advantage of that to provide impetus to the innings. Meanwhile, Jackson brought up his hundred off 106 balls and, in all, hit 11 fours and four sixes during his knock. That, however, couldn’t fetch the win for Saurashtra.File photo: Rishi Dhawan bagged 4 for 27•AFP

Yet another all-round show from captain Rishi Dhawan steered Himachal Pradesh into their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy final, ending Services’ fairy-tale run in the tournament at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.After scoring 84 off 77 balls to lift HP to 281 for 6, Dhawan picked up 4 for 27 to help bundle out Services for 204 in 46.1 overs.Earlier in the day, Prashant Chopra and Digvijay Rangi added 74 for the second wicket for HP but Services struck back with two quick wickets to make it 106 for 4 in the 25th over.Dhawan then joined hands with Chopra, who soon brought up his fifth successive half-century of the tournament. The two added 88 in 103 balls for the fifth wicket before Chopra fell to Abhishek Tiwari for a 109-ball 78.If the partnership between Dhawan and Chopra stabilised the innings, the one between Dhawan and Akash Vasisht took the game away from Services. Dhawan and Vasisht smashed 83 off just 48 balls for the sixth wicket as HP ransacked 101 in the last ten overs. Dhawan struck nine fours and a six in his knock, while Vasisht remained unbeaten on 45 off 29 with four fours and two sixes.Dhawan, though, wasn’t done yet. He caused further damage with the ball, removing Lakhan Singh and Mohit Ahlawat cheaply to leave Services on 36 for 2 in their chase of 282. Ravi Chauhan (45 off 70) and Rajat Paliwal (55 off 66) showed some resistance but neither could carry on to make a big score.By the time Paliwal got out, in the 37th over, the asking rate had gone past nine an over. In search of quick runs, Services slipped from 174 for 5 to 179 for 8. The last two pairs took the side past 200 before Dhawan pegged back Bahadur’s middle stump to wrap up the game.

Onaje Amory and Jaden Carmichael are out. Kevin Wickham and Nathan Edwards are in

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2022Two players from the West Indies squad, Onaje Amory and Jaden Carmichael, have tested Covid positive at the U-19 World Cup. The tournament’s Event Technical Committee has allowed temporary replacements Kevin Wickham and Nathan Edwards for the two players who will now serve an isolation period.The announcement from ICC came just hours before a match that West Indies must win to make the quarter-finals. Offspinner Amory is the only West Indies bowler to complete all ten overs in the two games they have played so far, taking three wickets with an economy rate of 3.75. Carmichael has not yet played a game.Related

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There are provisions at the Under-19 World Cup for fixtures to either be postponed or relocated in case of a Covid-19 outbreak. But, with West Indies having adequate replacements on hand, there was no need to take any extreme measures. Wickham and Edwards were immediately brought into XI to play against Sri Lanka on Friday but their time with the team is temporary. They will be removed from the squad as soon as the infected players are able to return.West Indies are the third team to be affected by Covid-19 at this tournament. Four players from Zimbabwe tested positive in early January, and at least five India players returned positive tests too.So far, West Indies have a 1-1 win-loss record at the Under-19 World Cup. They lost their opening fixture against Australia by six wickets before beating Scotland by seven wickets. If they beat Sri Lanka on Friday, they will set up a quarter-final clash against Pakistan, Zimbabwe or Afghanistan.

Quicks make the difference for South Africa as they win see-saw contest by six runs

Firdose Moonda11-Mar-2022Shabnim Ismail defended nine runs off the final over to deny Pakistan a first victory at this World Cup and stretch their losing streak at the marquee tournament to 17 matches.Ismail, who had struck twice in two balls in her fourth over at the start of Pakistan’s chase, pulled off a stunning catch running to midwicket off her own bowling on the second ball of the last over to end Pakistan’s hopes of pulling off an upset. She sent down a slower ball, and Diana Baig top-edged to midwicket. Ismail turned, ran back and took the catch over her right shoulder in a display of fine athleticism after a messy effort in the field all round. Two run-outs in the last two overs didn’t help Pakistan either.South Africa were sloppy, missed at least three run-out chances, pulled off two and can consider themselves fortunate to have got away with two points, especially after another sluggish batting performance. They were restricted to a below-par 223, thanks to Fatima Sana and Ghulam Fatima’s three-wicket hauls, and a combination of strangling seam and spin. Only two of their top six got into double-figures but both Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus made their starts count and reached half-centuries. Pakistan matched that, with two fifties of their own that kept them in the chase. Omaima Sohail’s career-best 65 and Nida Dar’s ninth ODI half-century took them close but it wasn’t enough.Ismail gave South Africa the early advantage when she had Sidra Ameen caught on the drive at wide slip and Bismah Mahroof out for a first-ball duck. Nahida Khan and Sohail rebuilt, with the highest third-wicket stand for Pakistan against South Africa, and found regular boundaries off overpitched deliveries. But, their strike rotation was limited and Pakistan’s required run rate grew to over five an over by the halfway point of their innings.That’s when Ayabonga Khaka made her first big incision. She sent down a good-length delivery that angled in from middle stump and hit Nahida low on the front pad. She was given out but reviewed only to see it confirmed that her leg stump would have been taken out.Sohail reached fifty off 83 balls and formed another strong partnership with Dar but it was not without its risks. Dar should have been run-out on 6 when she cut Chloe Tryon to Lizelle Lee at cover and was halfway down the track when the ball was stopped, but the throw came in wide. She went on to hit Pakistan’s first six of the World Cup when she cleared the front leg to mow Masabata Klaas over mid-on just as the required rate hit seven an over.Another risky run brought Sohail her career-best when Sune Luus missed a shy at the stumps and she continued to flirt with danger. Sohail took on Tazmin Brits, the former Olympic javelin-thrower’s arm – when she decided to go for a second run and her bat was grounded as throw came in. And then Sohail’s stint ended. She pulled Klaas to deep square leg where Lee took the catch.Omaima Sohail hit her third ODI half-century•AFP/Getty Images

Aliya Riaz tried to cut Marizanne Kapp three balls later but nicked off and Pakistan’s chase seemed all but over when Khaka struck again. Sana missed a flick, was struck on the front pad, and she reviewed in vain.Pakistan were unable to find the boundary for the next 4.3 overs before Dar hit Klaas over short fine leg and Sidra Nawaz cleared mid-on before slicing a Kapp slower ball to Wolvaardt at point. Baig, at No. 9, showed her worth when she took on Khaka with two aerial slogs off two balls. Then, she hit a full ball towards long-on, and wanted a second but they could not beat the throw as Khaka collected and broke the stumps. Pakistan’s challenge was finally up with another run-out when Ghulam wanted to get off strike on the penultimate ball but Trisha Chetty ran her out.It was a heartbreaking end for Pakistan, who were disciplined and energetic in the field. They got rid of Lizelle Lee, who made a return to the South African XI after a delayed arrival in New Zealand following the birth of her first child, early. In the third over, she drove away from her body, got an edge and Nawaz took an impressive catch to her right. Brits, who had opened in Lee’s absence, was in at first-drop but her struggles continued. She managed two runs off 18 balls and edged Baig behind where Nawaz pulled off a second stunner and South Africa finished their powerplay on 29 for 2.At the other end, Wolvaardt drove Sana wide of Baig at point and then heaved her over the fingertips of Dar at gully. Her signature cover drive came out off Baig and she showed off her ability on the back foot, with successive boundaries off the pull and cut to prompt the introduction of spin at both ends.Dar and Nashru Sandhu bowled eight overs in tandem and conceded only 25 runs. Dar also thought she had Luus in that period when the South African captain was given out lbw after missing a sweep. Luus, on 12 at the time, reviewed and UltraEdge showed she had hit the ball.Wolvaardt reached fifty off 75 balls when she charged down the track to hit Fatima wide of mid-on for four. She found two more boundaries in the next four balls to keep South Africa’s score ticking. At the other end, Luus was given out lbw a second time. She was on 23 when she missed a sweep but reviewed only for a second edge to be revealed.The pair took South Africa past the halfway mark, with the run rate just over three an over, but any intent to accelerate was stymied by a mid-inning collapse caused by Ghulam. Wolvaardt got a leading edge as she reached for a slower delivery and offered Ghulam a low return catch. Three balls later, Ghulam had Mignon du Preez caught at point as she tried to cut. In Ghulam’s next over, Kapp hit a full toss to deep square leg to give the legspinner a third wicket in 11 balls. She should have had a fourth when Tryon, on 2, hit her in the air to mid-on but the chance was dropped, and it proved costly.Tryon and Luus went on to put on 55 runs for the sixth wicket and took South Africa into the last ten overs. Tryon took on the role of finisher but was lucky to survive when, on 19, she edged Sana but Nawaz could not hold onto a third diving chance. Tryon went on to hit the first six of the innings, in the 43rd over, when she advanced down the track and sent Dar over long-on.Luus brought up her slowest fifty in ODIs, off 94 balls, and the second six of the innings but neither she nor Tryon could bat through the innings. South Africa lost 4 for 48 in the last seven overs but scored 66 off the last ten. Pakistan required 67 runs in their last ten overs and came close but not close enough.

Pair share 165-run unbeaten stand with Harris 88 not out at stumps in his last match before the Pakistan Test tour

Alex Malcolm19-Feb-2022Marcus Harris made another statement ahead of the Test tour of Pakistan while Peter Handscomb continued his outstanding form as Victoria made the most of a beautiful day-two batting surface at Junction Oval after bowling Queensland out for 349.Harris and Handscomb shared an unbeaten stand of 165 with Harris cruising to 88 not out, coming off his Marsh Cup century last week while Handscomb finished 74 not out at stumps following on from his brilliant match-saving Sheffield Shield century against South Australia.Earlier in the day, 22-year-old Queenslander Jack Clayton made a century on Shield debut while James Bazley made his highest first-class score of 64 to help Queensland post a decent first-innings total.But the afternoon belonged to Victoria’s senior pros as Harris and Handscomb batted with typical control following the early loss of Travis Dean. Both men struck nine fours and Harris added a six as Queensland’s spin duo of Mitchell Swepson and Matt Kuhnemann couldn’t break through after Victoria’s part-time offspinner Matthew Short had earlier claimed four wickets.Harris’ staggering record at the Junction Oval continues. If he reaches 96 unbeaten on day three he will have 800 runs at an average of 100 at the ground, and if he can find 12 more runs for his century it will be his fifth at the Junction Oval in just nine innings. Handscomb is gunning for his third Shield century of the season after revealing during the week that a slight technical adjustment with his feet and hip alignment had been the catalyst for his run glut this season.Earlier, Clayton showed he has the makings of a top-class Shield player after handling Victoria’s experienced attack on debut. He unfurled some outstanding pull shots off the quicks and the spinners bringing up his century of 216 balls. He fell to a pull shot not long after picking out square leg off Will Sutherland who finished with three wickets. Sutherland and Short threatened to clean up the tail. Handscomb took a phenomenal reflex catch at slip to hand Short his third scalp. But Bazley and Kuhnemann added 53 for the final wicket to push Queensland’s first innings just shy of 350, with Bazley making his second career half-century. Scott Boland finished with 0 for 24 from 19 overs having delivered 10 maidens.

Surrey among frontrunners for signature as West Indies allrounder sizes up return

Matt Roller29-Apr-2022Kieron Pollard is weighing up offers to play in the T20 Blast following his retirement from international cricket.Pollard, who turns 35 next month, stepped back from his position as West Indies’ limited-overs captain last week after two-and-a-half years in the role but will continue to play domestic T20 cricket around the world.He was the first pick in the men’s Hundred draft earlier this month and will now be available to play for London Spirit for the majority of the tournament and will consider returning to county cricket for the first time since 2011, a move which would see him spend around three months in England this summer.ESPNcricinfo understands that at least two counties have enquired about Pollard’s availability for the Blast, which runs from May 25 – four days after his IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians, play their final game in this year’s IPL – until July 16.Surrey appear to be the frontrunners at this stage, in a move which would reunite Pollard with his close friend and long-term team-mate Sunil Narine, who has already signed for the duration of Blast as an overseas player.Surrey had planned to use Sean Abbott as their second overseas player after his stint was cut short due to injury last year, but his involvement in Australia and Australia A’s squads for their tour of Sri Lanka means he will be unavailable for the majority of the group stages and the club are expected to look for a replacement.Related

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Pollard previously spent two seasons with Somerset in 2010 and 2011 where he was hugely successful, averaging 34.58 with the bat at a strike rate of 169.94 and taking 41 wickets in 28 appearances.It is understood that Somerset are in the market for another overseas signing for the Blast – likely to be a batter or a batting allrounder – despite the fact that Marchant de Lange and Peter Siddle are both under contract for the tournament, but the club have privately played down the prospect of Pollard returning.Northamptonshire are one of the few other counties with a vacant overseas spot for the Blast and had agreed a deal with Pollard in 2020 before the tournament was postponed due to the pandemic.However, it is understood that they have already agreed terms with another overseas batter whose signing will be announced in the coming weeks, with Chris Lynn’s name discussed at length. Northants have previously confirmed the signing of James Neesham, the New Zealand allrounder, as their other Blast overseas player.

Hosts made to pay for fielding lapses as Jennings achieves notable feat

Paul Edwards12-May-2022
Tradition justifies nothing unless it enriches the present. When Jordan Thompson’s opening delivery of the 285th Roses match was driven to the cover boundary by Luke Wells it would have been foolish to think more than one spectator’s thoughts drifted back to Sheffield’s Hyde Park Ground, the venue for the first match between Lancashire and Yorkshire in 1849. That game, which ended in a Yorkshire victory by five wickets, would only be of much interest to social historians of early Victorian England; Hyde Park stopped hosting first-class cricket in 1866.And yet as Yorkshire’s players emerge, battered but resolute, from the most self-destructive winter any county has experienced, it is not fanciful to believe that the received traditions of Roses matches can encourage them as they get down to the business of winning cricket matches. For Steve Patterson’s team to bag a trophy this year would be a wonderful response to the media folk who gathered at Headingley last winter in the hope of watching the county kill itself. What those honourable citizens did not notice was that there were many people in Yorkshire – and many from the South Asian community – who knew what had gone grievously wrong at the county but were determined to play their part in putting it right and restoring the White Rose to dominance. It was their team, too.Can Roses matches assist such an admirable project? Only to a degree, of course. Such work is wide-ranging and will take years to complete. But the best elements of the rivalry should inspire cricketers from whatever backgrounds on both sides of the Pennines and it was strangely fitting that having been asked to bat on a fairly slow wicket, Lancashire should manage only 53 for 2 in 30 overs of nowt-asked, nowt-given cricket this morning. The run-rate was 1.76 per over and “Ticker” Mitchell would have loved it.What the old Yorkshire coach would not have liked so much, however, was the two chances that Harry Duke and Harry Brook put down during that siege-like session. And what might have sent him spinning off his chump was the fact that the reprieved Lancashire batsmen, Keaton Jennings and Steven Croft, both went on to make centuries with runs coming particularly freely during the first hour of the afternoon’s play in which Lancashire scored 74 runs, 60 of them in boundaries.Two further chances went down in the second session and Jennings was the fortunate batsman on each occasion. When he had made 70, the Lancashire opener nicked Dom Bess high to the left of Adam Lyth at slip; on 85 he blasted a drive back at the right hand of the bowler, Patterson. Neither was held but it would be absurdly unfair to think Lancashire’s dominance of this day’s cricket was merely a consequence of Yorkshire failings, egregious as they were early in the afternoon.Both Jennings and Croft showed exemplary judgement in the morning and they came into lunch with 21 runs apiece. They then feasted on the tripe they were given without ever forgetting that centuries are built as much on the balls left alone or defended as those that are smashed to the boundary.Both centuries were well-earned and both were significant in different ways. The general feeling at Emirates Old Trafford is that this will be Croft’s last season as a player. But we have been here before and each time Lancashire officials have been preparing the presentation clock and Emirates voucher, the veteran all-rounder has replied with performances showing his value. This was his second century of the season and his first in Roses matches; it included all the characteristic pulls and cuts as well as a heave for six over midwicket off Joe Root, who bowled four overs and otherwise fielded at slip all day. Croft eventually fell lbw for 104 to Haris Rauf with the second new ball and it was heartening to see many in the stands at the Kirkstall Lane applauding him. As for his employers, maybe they should hold the eulogies.Jennings, though, batted even more fluently. Yorkshire bowlers must have been driven scatty by his well-judged cuts through gully or his pulls to square leg when the ball was a trifle short. Having survived an opening hour in which Thompson removed both Wells and Josh Bohannon, he progressed smoothly towards a century that links him to a cricketer as unlike him as it is possible to imagine.For when he reached three figures with a clip for two off Rauf, Jennings became only the second Lancashire player to make centuries in three consecutive Championship innings against Yorkshire. The first was Swinton-born Geoff Pullar, who made two hundreds in 1959 and another in 1960. Jennings, of course, is an athlete, whose nutrition, exercise routines and recovery from injury are closely monitored. Not every cricketer would describe his county’s physio as “an angel on legs” as Jennings referred to Sam Byrne, who helped him recover from a badly torn calf muscle last autumn.Pullar was a very fine batter – his average after the last of his 28 Tests was higher than his first-class mark – but he tended to view athleticism on his own terms. For example, the general perception is that players in that era were happy to play six days a week; Pullar, though, was never the keenest fielder, especially on wet days. During delays he used to sit in his vest and put his feet up in a corner of the Old Trafford dressing room. As often as not, ‘Noddy’ – he was once found watching the children’s TV programme in a team hotel – would be reading a popular J T Edson Western novelette and would curse roundly if an improvement in the weather interrupted his literary studies. “Look at that, Tommy!” he exclaimed to his mate, Tommy Greenhough, “The bloody rain’s stopped and we’ll have to go out there again.”

Afghanistan are now placed second on the Super League table with 100 points

Ashish Pant09-Jun-2022A sterling show by the bowlers coupled with an excellent all-round effort from Mohammad Nabi helped Afghanistan win the third ODI by four wickets, sweep the series 3-0 and more importantly collect crucial Super League points in Harare. Afghanistan now have 100 points on the World Cup Super League table and are placed second, behind Bangladesh.All six Afghanistan bowlers picked up at least a wicket as Zimbabwe, after being put into bat, folded for 135 in 44.5 overs. On a surface that had a bit in it for the bowlers, Afghanistan struck at regular intervals, never allowing any of the batters to settle.In reply, the Zimbabwe bowlers, Blessing Muzarabani, in particular, came out all guns blazing but the target never went out of reach for the visitors. Hashmatullah Shahidi, the captain, and later Nabi, the former captain, kept a calm head as the visitors reached the target with 12.2 overs to spare.Batting first, Zimbabwe found the going tough right from the start. Wessley Madhevere, in a bid to up the scoring having managed just 5 off 17 balls, tried to force a Fazalhaq Farooqi length delivery through the off side. But lack of foot movement meant he could only get an inside edge back onto his stumps. Craig Ervine then departed for 0 with Rashid Khan completing a sharp catch low to his right at covers. Innocent Kaia struck a couple of fours but was trapped right in front of the wicket off Mujeeb ur Rahman for 16 before Azmatullah Omarzai sent Dion Myers’ off stump cartwheeling.Tottering at 42 for 4, the hosts needed someone to hold fort and Sikandar Raza did just that. He started sedately, while collecting a few boundaries whenever the opportunity arose. He had Regis Chakabva for company for a bit as the duo added 35 runs for the fifth wicket. But once Chakabva fell, lbw to Rashid, another collapse ensued. Raza, looking to increase the run-rate, fell for 38 and shortly after, the Zimbabwe innings folded with more than five overs to spare.While Rashid was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan, returning 3 for 31 in his 7.5 overs, Nabi and Farooqi took two wickets each. Apart from Raza, Ryan Burl was the only batter to cross the score of 20.With nothing to lose, Zimbabwe bowled with aggressive plans up top. Muzarabani was quick, accurate and hit the batters on several occasions. After collecting a solitary run at the end of three overs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz broke the rut, clattering Tendai Chatara for a six over cover. The bowler got his man two balls later, though, the opener caught at slip. Muzarabani then got into the act, first dismissing Ibrahim Zadran for 8 before catching Rahmat Shah’s outside edge for 17. Muzarabani bowled his 10 overs on the trot, finishing with impeccable figures of 2 for 18, which included three maidens.However, once he was finished with his spell, Afghanistan found proceedings easier. Chatara did get rid of Najibullah Zadran but Shahidi kept his cool. He added 45 runs for the fifth wicket with Nabi before falling for 38. Omarzai’s wicket, with the score on 118 for 6 might have raised Zimbabwe’s hopes but Nabi, alongside Rashid took the visitors home with plenty to spare. He sealed the series and the clean sweep for Afghanistan with a solid pull of deep midwicket.Rashid was named Player of the Match for his three wickets, while Rahmat was declared Player of the Series.