Ismat and Rashid put Afghanistan in sight of victory

Zimbabwe 243 and 205 for 8 (Ervine 53*, Rashid 6-66, Zia 2-44) need 73 runs to beat Afghanistan 157 and 363 (Rahmat 139, Ismat 101, Muzarabani 6-95)

Ismat Alam‘s century on debut and Rashid Khan‘s six-for bookended a day of dominance for Afghanistan, who will come back on the fifth and final day needing just two wickets to seal the match and the series against Zimbabwe.

Ismat, who had come into the Test with a first-class average of 92 and had converted all four of his fifties at the level into centuries, also converted his maiden Test fifty into a century to help Afghanistan finish on 363, setting Zimbabwe 278 to win.

After that, it was all Rashid magic as he ran through Zimbabwe, who fought back with a gritty fifth-wicket stand between captain Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, but in the end Afghanistan were in a winning position at stumps.

Zimbabwe had a bright start in their chase of 278. Ben Curran hit two late cuts as Zimbabwe took 12 runs off Fareed Ahmad’s first over. Seven runs came off the next over before the Afghanistan bowlers found more discipline and started to dry out the runs. While there was some movement on offer with the new ball, the fast bowlers could not really threaten the Zimbabwe openers.

Spin was introduced in the tenth over in the form of Zia-ur-Rehman and the left-arm spinner struck in his third over. Joylord Gumbie had reverse-swept him for four off the first ball of the over, but when he went for another reverse-sweep he ended up gloving the ball behind to first slip.

From there on in, it was the Rashid show for Afghanistan. He first got one to spin in from the rough outside off to knock Curran over. In the next 37 balls, Zimbabwe managed just 14 runs and Takudzwanashe Kaitano released the pressure by authoritatively pulling Fareed for a six over backward square leg.

Rashid then changed ends and drew the top edge from Kaitano as he went for a sweep. Abdul Malik ran across from slip to take the catch down the leg side, giving Zimbabwe another breakthrough just before tea.

In the third over of the final session, Dion Myers slashed at a wide delivery from Rashid and got a thick edge for four, but Rashid hit back by trapping him in front with a wrong’un, for his 400th international wicket.

At 99 for 4, Zimbabwe were in trouble but the senior pair of Raza and Ervine combined to frustrate Afghanistan with a 58-run stand. They were watchful and kept the runs ticking with plenty of singles in the absence of close-in fielders. They hit just the one boundary in a partnership that lasted 19 overs.

Rashid finally broke through, although it had little to do with his bowling. Raza, ever so watchful until then, was tempted into a drive as Rashid threw down a half-volley outside off, but he couldn’t get it over the cover fielder, much to his frustration.

Sean Williams, nursing a back injury from the first day of the Test, was next on Rashid’s radar, as he got another one to spin in from the rough outside off to crash into off stump with Williams missing a sweep. That completed Rashid’s fifth Test five-for in just eight games. One ball later, he darted in a quick, flat legbreak that spun past the outside edge to crash into Brian Bennett’s off stump.

In the next over, Zia trapped Newman Nyamhuri, as Zimbabwe lost three wickets in seven deliveries, still 100 runs away from their target.

Ervine fought on for Zimbabwe, hitting Rashid for two boundaries either side of the wicket in the next over before depositing Zia over midwicket. He took Zimbabwe past 200 with a cover drive and hit another boundary down the ground – a misfield at long-on that helped him to a second half-century in the match.

Soon after, Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava pulled up holding his calf, and with lights fading, it brought on stumps with Zimbabwe still needing 73 and Afghanistan two wickets from victory.

Afghanistan began the day 205 runs ahead and scored quickly with Ismat and Rashid finding the boundary regularly. But the latter failed to get out of the way of a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer and gloved a catch behind to give him his maiden Test five-wicket haul.

Ismat carried on, hitting three fours in four overs after Rashid’s dismissal, and went past Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 in 2019 for the highest score by an Afghanistan batter on Test debut. With Zimbabwe spreading the field, he was forced to slow down but with Yamin Ahmadzai for company, he brought up his century and celebrated with a series of fist pumps. The celebrations were worth it after he had fallen for a two-ball duck in his maiden international innings.

He fell on 101, miscuing a pull off Muzarabani, after which Afghanistan added just seven runs.