Rashid three-for, Ibrahim fifty lead Afghanistan to series win

Afghanistan cruised to a series victory over Zimbabwe, with Ibrahim Zadran backing up a disciplined bowling performance with a half-century of his own. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Abdollah Ahmadzai and Rashid Khan had limited the hosts to 125 all out in Harare, setting up a straight-forward chase.

Mujeeb stifles

Zimbabwe tried to do the right thing. Their batters realised the importance of getting set. They attempted to regroup when wickets fell. There was no collapse this time, but there was no redemption either.Opener Dion Myers looked to be doing well against Mujeeb, only to sweep him straight to short fine. He was aiming to clear the fielder because there was no one in the deep. Good plan. Bad execution.Brendan Taylor was less adventurous, perhaps wanting to make amends for a low-percentage shot that led to a first-ball dismissal on Wednesday. But Mujeeb kept building pressure. It was the last over of the powerplay. Zimbabwe were 34 for 2, having only hit three boundaries. Trying to exploit the field restrictions before they ran out, Taylor was caught at mid-off, trying to hit the bowler over his head.Zimbabwe had the best of intentions. It didn’t stop them backfiring.

Abdollah the enforcer

The pitch was slightly on the slower side – except whenever Abdollah came on to bowl. The 22-year-old fast bowler is all hustle and bustle, hitting the deck and troubling batters with bounce. Ryan Burl, who was in the middle of patching things up with his captain Sikandar Raza, fell trying to swat one of Abdollah’s well-directed short balls off his face. Zimbabwe slipped to 57 for 4. They couldn’t score more than a run a ball in seven of the first 10 overs.Sikander Raza held Zimbabwe’s innings together•Zimbabwe Cricket

Raza’s resistance

Raza tried to do his best to shepherd the innings forward. He came in during the fifth over and showed that run-scoring was still possible, hitting two fours off his first two balls – though both of them were overpitched and allowed him the freedom of his super fast hands. His best shot was an inside out, one-bounce four over extra cover, against a yorker gone wrong from Abdollah.All this happened while the Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was tending to an injury to his right hand in the field. He had only bowled one over till then. When he picked the ball back up in the 17th, he knocked over Raza, which left the score at 104 for 6, and then ran through the tail. Zimbabwe’s highest partnership was just 24 runs.

Ibrahim anchors the chase

Afghanistan ransacked nine boundaries in the powerplay, three times as many as their opposition. Some of that was good strokeplay. The rest of it was just Zimbabwe offering what every batter wants on a sluggish pitch – width and the chance to get under the ball.Ibrahim Zadran helped himself to back-to-back T20I fifties, though this one was a little more hard work. Afghanistan went 43 balls without a boundary after the powerplay but they’d done enough damage while the field was up, scoring 54 of the required 126.Questions remain over Afghanistan’s middle order. Sediqullah Atal – who had turned his right ankle while fielding and required attention – and Darwish Rasooli combined to score just 25 runs in 32 balls through the middle overs.