Afghanistan v Zimbabwe T20I series – Statistical Highlights

Afghanistan after having beaten Zimbabwe in the ODI and T20I series the last time the two teams met have done it again as they conveniently defeated Zimbabwe in all aspects of the game be it batting, bowling or fielding in the just concluded 2-match T20I series. They won the first match by a narrow margin of 5 runs and as the two teams met for the last match, all eyes were on Afghanistan whether they will be able to continue their winning run or will Zimbabwe level the series. But like it happened the Afghan boys won the match by 81 runs and showed to us that they certainly belong to this level.

In 2^nd T20I match against Zimbabwe which will be remembered by every Afghan fan because it was the first time that their batsman smashed a century in a T20I cricket and it was Mohammad Shahzad who got the first triple figures by an Afghan batsman as he played a knock of 118* runs and helped Afghanistan to a mammoth total of 215.

Zimbabwe needed some special performances to win that match but ever impressive Afghan bowlers got regular wickets and stopped the settled Hamilton Masakdza from scoring freely and he finally given up and got out for 63 runs. Zimbabwe with that lost the series 2-0 and put themselves in a spot of bother at international level because now they are at no.15 in latest ICC T20I team rankings while Afghanistan is proudly position at no.9.

Here are the Statistical Highlights of the Afg v Zim 2^nd T20I, 2016:

118* – Number of runs scored by Mohammad Shahzad against Zimbabwe in the 2^nd T20I match which is the fourth highest by any player in an innings of a T20I match. Aaron Finch (156 runs vs England), Brendon McCullum (123 runs vs Bangladesh) and Faf du Plesis (119 runs vs West Indies) are ahead of him.

1^st– Mohammad Shahzad became the first player from non-Test playing countries to reach to 1000 runs landmark in T20Is. He has scored 1111 runs in 38 matches in his T20I career while playing for Afghanistan.

5^th – Shahzad became fifth Asian cricketer to score a century in T20I match. Other four Asian batsmen who have made hundreds in T20Is are Ahmed Shehzad (111* vs Bangladesh), Rohit Sharma (106 vs South Africa), TM Dilshan (104* vs Australia) and Suresh Raina (101 vs South Africa). He also became second associate player, first Afghanistan player and 15th player overall to make a century in a T20I match.

20 – Number of sixes that were hit in the 2^nd T20I match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan which is eleventh most in any match. The highest number of sixes hit in any T20I match is 30 which was held between Ireland and Netherlands.

81 – Margin of runs by which Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe in 2nd T20I match is their second largest margin of victory in terms of runs in a T20I match. They had beaten Kenya by 106 runs in 2013 which is their largest victory margin.

37 – Number of sixes hit by Hamilton Masakadza in his T20I career which is most by any Zimbabwe’s batsman in T20Is. He hit five sixes in 2nd T20I match against Afghanistan and with that he overtook his captain Elton Chigumbura in terms of most number of sixes in T20Is among Zimbabwe’s batsmen. Elton Chigumbura has hit 34 sixes in 39 matches while playing for Zimbabwe.

1^st – Mohammad Shehzad became the first player from non-Test playing countries who has hit more than 100 fours and 40 sixes in T20Is. He has hit 115 fours and 42 sixes in 38 matches while playing for Afghanistan.

5^th – Mohammad Shahzad became the fifth player who has hit more than 100 fours and 40 sixes in T20Is. Other four batsmen who have done that are Brendon McCullum (199 – 4s and 91 – 6s), Martin Guptil (139 – 4s and 62 – 6s), David Warner (137 – 4s and 66 – 6s) and Chris Gayle (122 – 4s and 87 – 6s).

215/6 – Highest total made by Afghanistan in any T20I match. They posted a total of 215/6 in the 2nd T20I match against Zimbabwe yesterday. Their previous best total came off against Scotland which was 210/5 on 12 July 2015. This total of 215/6 also the highest total made by any team this year in a T20I match. This is also only the second time Afghanistan have managed to score more than 200 runs in a T20I match. 215/6 made by Afghanistan is also the highest total by any team at Sharjah in any T20I match.

5 – Number of times Elton Chigumbura has been out on a duck which is most among other Zimbabwe’s players and fourth most among other players.

9 – Number of times Mohammad Shahzad has made 50+ scores in T20Is which is the seventh most among all other players and most by any Afghanistan player. He has hit a ton and eight fifties while playing for Afghanistan in 38 T20I matches.

7^th – Mohammad Shahzad became the seventh fastest batsman to reach the landmark of 1000 T20I runs. He got there 38 innings while Virat Kohli is at the top in that list. He scored 1000 T20I runs in just 27 innings.

2^nd – Mohammad Shahzad became second batsman after Gayle to carry his bat through in an innings of a T20I match as an opener. Chris Gayle carried his bat through against Sri Lanka in a T20I match in 2009.

Here are some of the top record holders in a particular category in the 2-match T20I series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

Most Runs – Mohammad Shahzad (151 runs)

Most Wickets – DalwatZardan (5 wickets)

Most Fours – Mohammad Shahzad (12 fours)

Most Sixes – Mohammad Shahzad (11 sixes)

Most Catches – Peter Moor (3 catches)