Afghanistan won by 154 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Rahmat Shah
Batter
Bowler
That's all we have from this game. Zimbabwe have a lot to worry. Their bowling overall and of course, they will have to find a method to tackle the spinners. Afghanistan, on the other hand, will try to keep the winning habit going. We'll be back for the second ODI on Sunday. Until then, it's goodbye.
Rahmat Shah, Man of the Match: I just wanted to stay in the wicket, take some time and then attack. First 5-7 overs I just wanted to stay there and rotate strike. That was my job as I knew there were big-hitters to come.
Asghar Stanikzai: It was a great win. Shahzad and Ihsanullah Janat gave us a good start. In the end, Rahmat Shah and Najibullah Zadran batted really well. If we make 270, we knew we could defend with Rashid. Happy with the win.
Graeme Cremer: We knew it was a tough score to chase. 260-270 was probably a par score. Afghanistan batted well. We needed a couple of partnerships in the middle. Our back end bowling - the last 10-15 overs, we lost our way. That's a bit of concern. Batting in the middle overs - from over 10 to 30 - we need to improve.
21:03 Local Time, 17:03 GMT, 22:33 IST: Zimbabwe have been annihilated here at Sharjah. Enough damage was done in the first half of the innings where Afghanistan scored a massive 333 on the back of Rahmat Shah's century. The Zimbabwe openers were involved in a 50-run stand, but Mire's dismissal opened the floodgates. The Afghan spinners once again came to the party. Even before Rashid Khan was introduced the African side had lost four wickets. The 19-year-old leg-spinner picked three wickets in three overs to derail Zimbabwe's chase completely. He wrapped up the match by removing Vitori.
Rashid Khan to Vitori, out Bowled!! Too quick! Rashid Khan gets a four-fer. This was fired in very quickly and Vitori didn't see that coming. He is too late to bring his bat down and the ball hits the stumps, beating the inside edge. Afghanistan win by 154 runs to go 1-0 up. Vitori b Rashid Khan 8(8) [6s-1]
Rashid Khan to Vitori, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
Rashid Khan to Vitori, 5 wides, shuffles across a long way and this was darted down the leg-side. Five wides
Rashid Khan to Vitori, no run, tries to sweep and misses
Rashid Khan to Vitori, SIX, wow! Where did this come from? Vitori comes down the track and wants to send this ball into the deep mid-wicket fence. The ball flies over the bowler's head and goes all the way towards the sightscreen
Rashid Khan to Vitori, no run, skids through just outside off, Vitori is beaten on the outside edge. He was too late to bring his bat down
END OF OVER 34
2 Runs
ZIM: 168 - 9
Wd 0 0 1 0 0 0
Brian Vitori
2 (4)
Tendai Chatara
2 (17)
Rahmat
2-0-11-1
Rahmat to Chatara, no run, wrong 'un and Chatara doesn't offer any stroke. Brushes the batsman's pad and trickles towards fine leg. Dead-ball!
Rahmat to Chatara, no run, lots of flight on this ball, but overpitches, Chatara drills it back to the bowler
Rahmat to Chatara, no run, pitches around off and turns past the blocking bat of Chatara
Rahmat to Vitori, 1 run, hacked wide of mid-wicket for a single
Rahmat to Vitori, no run, looks to slog over mid-wicket and misses as the ball spins away
Rahmat to Vitori, no run, another away-turner and another leave from Vitori
Rahmat to Vitori, wide, googly outside off, Vitori decides to let it go at the last moment
END OF OVER 33
1 Runs
ZIM: 166 - 9
1 0 0 0 0 0
Brian Vitori
1 (1)
Tendai Chatara
2 (14)
Rashid Khan
5-0-15-3
Rashid Khan to Chatara, no run, another googly and Chatara gets an inside edge on his block. Brushes the pad and balloons up over a non-existent short leg fielder
Rashid Khan to Chatara, no run, Chatara is rapped on the front pad and Rashid Khan goes up for an lbw appeal. The impact was on leg and the ball would have gone down leg. It was a googly