Watch cricket video highlights of Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe 2024. 1st Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Venue of the match will be Bulawayo.
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With only 31 overs remaining and the first of two Test matches between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan ending in a tie, rain had the last say on the fourth day in Bulawayo. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi batted the entire third day, but Zimbabwe ended their enormous 364-run third-wicket stand with the former falling on 234. Before being caught at gully by left-arm quick Newman Nyamhuri, who was making his debut, he had only added three runs to his overnight total.
As the two accumulated an unbroken 87 for the fourth wicket, Shahidi was still batting at 179 and Afsar Zazai was aiming for his first Test half-century, finishing undefeated at 46. After adding just three to his overnight total, Rahmat drove at one far from his body and edged it to Ben Curran in the second over of the day. Rahmat was powerless to stop Nyamhuri as he bowled it from around the stumps and sailed it wide. In men’s Test cricket, that put an end to the eighth-highest third-wicket partnership.
Blessing Muzarabani and Nyamhuri both experienced seam movement, and occasionally even additional bounce, but Shahidi and new batsman Afsar Zazai were cautious. Neither batter hesitated to loft or swipe at the ball when the line was wide. When Shahidi clipped Nyamhuri wide of fine leg in the 131st over, he had reached 150. Both quicks held it firmly, large. Only in the 137th over did the day’s first boundary occur. Shahidi played a beautiful drive to split cover and mid-off after Trevor Gwandu angled one over to him.
Zazai continued to identify the border after that, but Shahidi appeared much more composed at the opposite end. Sean Williams pitched one short three overs later, and Zazai smashed his first boundary past midwicket. Zazai hit a full and wide one outside off from Gwandu with his bat in the 141st over, but the ball flew for four over gully. Just after his partnership with Shahidi had reached fifty, Zazai cut Gwandu for another boundary after two overs. Zazai pulled Williams over square leg to get his lone six.
Zimbabwe slowed things down via Brian Bennett, Brandon Mavuta, and Muzarabani after seeing he was gathering up speed. Afghanistan finished the morning session with just 14 runs from the following seven overs. Only two overs could be made in the afternoon, but Shahidi drove the second delivery after lunch for four to deep extra cover. The umpires halted play at 12:53 p.m. after spotting dark clouds and a strong downpour that was about to come. An hour later, when the ground crew began to remove the coverings, the rain stopped. But as another deluge began, the attempt was in vain. Due to the unrelenting rain, stumps were called at 4:35 p.m.
