AFGHANISTAN TOUR OF ZIMBABWE, 2025
Brad Evans made a terrific comeback to Test cricket by picking up a five-wicket haul © Zimbabwe Cricket
Brad Evans made a terrific comeback to Test cricket by picking up a five-wicket haul that gave Zimbabwe early honours in the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Harare. Evans was well supported by Blessing Muzarabani as Afghanistan were bowled out for just 127 after being sent into bat. In reply, Zimbabwe have already taken the first innings lead before stumps.
Ibrahim Zadran appeared to give Afghanistan the perfect start when he found the boundary thrice in an over against Richard Ngarava but the opener unnecessarily poked outside off against Muzarabani to edge one behind. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Abdul Malik weren’t deterred by the wicket and kept playing positive cricket to keep the scorecard moving. The duo were involved in a half-century stand as Afghanistan were actually well placed at 77/1 at one stage.
However, that soon became 88/3 with both set batters getting dismissed. From thereon, recovery was just not in sight as the visitors crumbled in spectacular fashion. Evans opened his account by picking up two wickets in a single over that reduced the opposition to 102/5 and the procession continued post lunch as well with Muzarabani adding to his tally. Evans then mopped up the tail in quick time to complete his five-fer and put Zimbabwe firmly on top.
When Ziaur Rahman Sharifi castled Brian Bennett in just the fourth over of the reply, Afghanistan would have fancied their chances of fighting back. But those hopes were squashed in as Nick Welch and Ben Curran displayed a lot of composure to thwart the visitors. The duo patiently added 97 for the second wicket before Sharifi returned to the attack to hit the timber again that sent Welch back for 49. But Curran at the other end managed to complete his half-century and Brendan Taylor got off to a promising start as well to ensure Zimbabwe remained on top.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 130/2 (Ben Curran 52*, Nick Welch 49; Ziaur Rahman Sharifi 2/35) lead Afghanistan 127 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 37; Brad Evans 5/22, Blessing Muzarabani 3/47) by 3 runs.
© Cricbuzz
