Afghanistan won by 28 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Najibullah Zadran
Batter
Bowler
That's all we've got from our side today. Was pleasure bringing you the live coverage of this contest, especially the first innings when it was raining sixes. See you tomorrow for the contest between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, hopefully it'll be an entertaining one. See you folks!
Rashid Khan | Afghanistan captain: It was a great win, credit goes to the boys for the way they batted in the first innings. The debut boy also played well, contributed nicely in the first innings. That's the beauty of Afghanistan guys, they adapt quickly to the formats. They adjust themselves quickly, it's more of a mind game. I am in the team to do that, I always bowl between the 9th and 18th over. I am always working hard as the batsmen are watching you these days. I work hard in the nets, try different variations, that's what I focus on.
Najibullah | Man of the Match: I am very happy, I play a lot of cricket here and enjoy batting in Bangladesh. Thanks to the skipper for giving me a chance to bat up the order. I love the shorter formats. The wicket was slower when I walked in to bat, so we targeted the last 3 to 4 overs.
Masakadza | Zimbabwe captain: Bit of a disappointing day. The only positive thing coming out was how we batted towards the end and how the spinners bowled in the middle overs. Our spinners brought us back in the middle but Najib and Nabi played really well to take the game away from us. The last two games we haven't executed in the backend but the boys are working really hard.
A professional performance by Afghanistan as they continue to dominate against Zimbabwe in the shortest format. They lost a closely fought contest against Bangladesh yesterday, but today it was a toothless performance by them. In the first innings, they conceded seven sixes in seven successive deliveries and in the second innings they lost wickets in a cluster as the run chase never got the momentum. On the back of Najibullah's 30-ball 69*, Afghanistan posted a massive score of 197 and Zimbabwe never looked in their elements during the chase. Afghan seamers got rid of the top-order batsmen and Rashid Khan took care of couple of batsmen who walked in next. Chakabva added some crucial runs towards the end and made sure that Zimbabwe's net run rate doesn't get affected much. But with two successive losses, it's going to be quite difficult to make it to the final.
END OF OVER 20
14 Runs
ZIM: 169 - 7
4 1 6 Wd 1 0 1
Regis Chakabva
42 (22)
Kyle Jarvis
15 (9)
Naib
4-0-32-1
Naib to Chakabva, 1 run, Afghanistan register their 8th successive win against Zimbabwe in T20Is! A full ball in the channel outside off and it's been driven down to long-off by Chakabva. Nothing more than a single and it's game, set, match
Naib to Chakabva, no run, short ball outside off, Chakabva attempts a reverse hack, gets beaten
Naib to Jarvis, 1 run, on a length outside off, Jarvis slaps it to sweeper cover
Naib to Jarvis, wide, attempts a slower one and ends up spraying it outside off
Naib to Jarvis, SIX, not a great delivery by Naib! A full toss by him and it's been thumped down the ground with a clean bat swing by Jarvis
Naib to Chakabva, 1 run, down on his knee as he bludgeons this one to long-on. Wanted to send this one into the orbit, but couldn't get the elevation
Naib to Chakabva, FOUR, 99kph, slower delivery by Naib, Chakabva goes down on his knee and swings it away to the deep mid-wicket fence, four runs added to the total
END OF OVER 19
10 Runs
ZIM: 155 - 7
0 1 2 1 6 0
Regis Chakabva
36 (18)
Kyle Jarvis
8 (7)
Fareed Malik
4-0-35-2
Fareed Malik to Jarvis, no run, slow and short around off, Jarvis backs away, swipes across, but gets beaten due to the lack of pace
Fareed Malik to Jarvis, SIX, caught by Afghan at long-on but he's stepped on the cushions. Jarvis had lofted this one with a wild swing, but gets lucky as the catch doesn't count
Fareed Malik to Chakabva, 1 run, driven expansively to covers by Chakabva, just a single though as the fielder is quick to get rid of the ball
Fareed Malik to Chakabva, 2 runs, Chakabva goes down on his knee to slogsweep this and gets a top-edge that flies over the keeper's head, just falls in front of the fielder charging in from fine leg
Fareed Malik to Jarvis, 1 run, way to early in his swing as the ball comes off the cue-end and rolls towards extra cover
Fareed Malik to Jarvis, no run, very slow delivery outside off, full in length, Jarvis swings and misses
Fareed Malik [3.0-0-25-2] is back into the attack
END OF OVER 18
4 Runs
ZIM: 145 - 7
W 2 1 0 0 1
Kyle Jarvis
1 (3)
Regis Chakabva
33 (16)
Naib
3-0-18-1
Naib to Jarvis, 1 run, slaps the slower short ball to long-on for a single