Twitter Reactions: Afghanistan scripts a stunning victory over Zimbabwe by 6 wickets

The two-match Test series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe ended up in a draw as the Afghan side registered a stunning victory in the last Test of the two-match series at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 6 wickets. The first Test hosted in the same venue was won by Zimbabwe by 10 wickets and thus the series is leveled at 1-1.

The second Test commenced with Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan winning the toss and inviting the opposition to bowl first. In the first innings, Afghanistan launched an attack on Zimbabwe bowlers as they managed to put up a massive total of 545 runs on the board. Hashmatullah Shahidi emerged as the wrecker-in-chief for his team as he remained not out with a sublime knock of 200 runs off 443 deliveries.

Apart from his skipper also played a crucial role by adding a stunning 164 runs to the scoreboard while the opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran also had a decent outing with 72 runs under his belt. In reply to 545 posted by the Afgan side, Zimbabwe collapsed at a mere 287 as they lost all their ten wickets within 91.3 overs.

Sikandar Raza was the highest run-getter with 85 runs while the ace spinner Rashid Khan shined with the ball for Afghanistan by picking as many as 4 wickets. In addition, Amir Hamza scalped three wickets while Sayed Shirzad had two under his belt.

Rashid Khan rattles the Zimbabwe batting line-up

Asked to follow-on, Zimbabwe flattened in their second batting innings too as they failed to produce a comprehensive total on the board. Though the captain Sean Williams tried to keep his team alive in the hunt by playing a scintillating knock of 151 runs off 309 deliveries, no other batsmen took the responsibility to score runs.

Rashid Khan once again shined with the ball as he successfully shattered the opposition batting line-up. Khan ended up with a whopping 7 wickets under his name after bowling as many as 62.5 overs. Apart from him, Shirzad, Amir Hamza and Javed Ahmadi picked one wicket each.

Owing to the heroics of Rashid, Afghanistan had to score just 108 runs in the fourth innings to script a victory. The team had a torrid start to their batting innings as Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani picked the wicket of Javed Ahmadi in the first over only. However, Ibrahim and Rahmat Shah stitched a match-defining partnership of 81 runs to take Afghanistan close to the victory. 

In the end, Afghanistan won the game by 6 wickets as Rahmat played a match-defining knock of 58 runs.

Here are the best tweets

Congratulations to @ACBofficials team on winning #AFGvZIM 2nd test match.Good Performance by Afghan Captain Asghar & @Hashmat_50 what an amazing double ton and last but not the least brilliant bowling @rashidkhan_19 took 11 wickets.

— Kamran Akmal (@KamiAkmal23) March 14, 2021

Congratulations to everyone @rashidkhan_19 @Hashmat_50 @RahmatShah_08 @IZadran18 To level the serious #AFGvZIM 👏🏼👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/x4YA0LpVgj

— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) March 14, 2021

Congratulations to🇦🇫well done boys @ACBofficials @rashidkhan_19 @Hashmat_50 @MAsgharAfghan @sayedshirzad66 @MohammadNabi007 pic.twitter.com/dIrIHQgQsC

— Aftab Alam 55 (@aftabalam55786) March 14, 2021

Hats off to you champion @rashidkhan_19 proud of courtney pic.twitter.com/9HgggKmFjX

— Hamid Hassan (@hamidhassanHH) March 14, 2021

A trite observation, I know, but Rashid Khan earned £900k for bowling 68 overs in one IPL season. He’s just bowled 99.2 overs in the last three days. Probably got paid around £1k. You see test cricket’s challenge?

— daniel norcross (@norcrosscricket) March 14, 2021

Rashid Khan bowled 99.2 overs against Zimbabwe in the second Test and picked 11 wickets including seven-wicket haul after coming from a finger injury.

Freak, Rashid Khan. pic.twitter.com/3Zraacb367

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 14, 2021

Rashid Khan in the second Test:99.2-20-275-11.

From August 2020, he played in CPL, IPL, BBL, Ireland ODI series, PSL, playing in the second Test against Zimbabwe after a finger injury and will be playing in IPL from April – Rashid Machine Khan.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 14, 2021

How we see Rashid khan vs How asghar afghan sees him pic.twitter.com/d4G4LyvKkH

— Jimmy Ciego (@JimmyECiego) March 14, 2021

So Rashid Khan bowls 99.2 overs in this Test.
Before him, the last player to bowl as many or more overs in a Test match was Muttiah Muralitharan against England on 27-31 Aug 1998. It was the last Test match played before Rashid Khan was officially born (on 20 Sep 1998).#AFGvZIM

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) March 14, 2021

Rashid Khan's 99.2 overs in this match is the most by a bowler in a Test since 1998 – Muttiah Muralitharan SL v Eng at The Oval (113.5-41-220-16).

— Andrew Samson (@AWSStats) March 14, 2021

.@rashidkhan_19 now holds the record for bowling the most overs in a Test match since 2000.#Cricket #AFGvsZIM #RashidKhan #CricTracker pic.twitter.com/dpntyftFKp

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) March 14, 2021