Ngarava, Bennett and Musekiwa set up thrilling Zimbabwe win

Zimbabwe 145 for 6 (Bennett 49, Myers 32, Naveen 3-33, Rashid 2-26) beat Afghanistan 144 for 6 (Karim Janat 54*, Mohammad Nabi 44, Ngarava 3-28) by four wickets

A 13-ball over from Naveen-ul-Haq and a dramatic final over in which Tashinga Musekiwa found the boundary and sprinted between the wickets gave Zimbabwe a thrilling last-ball win in the opening T20I against Afghanistan.

With Zimbabwe chasing 145, frugal spells from Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan and a four-run 18th over from Mujeeb Ur Rahman brought the equation down from 60 off 42 balls to 21 off 12. But Naveen’s final over went for ten, and Azmatullah Omarzai’s changes in pace and length could not defend ten in the final over.

Musekiwa slogged a slower slot ball over cow corner and almost cleared the fence first ball of the 20th. He then rushed back for three twos, and with the scores level and the field up for the last ball, drove straight of mid-off to unleash celebrations with his partner in front of a vibrant Harare crowd.

The tension went up and down in the last seven overs beginning with a quicker ball from Mohammad Nabi leading to a miscued slog from the well-set Dion Myers. It broke a 75-run stand between Myers and Brian Bennett and took the asking rate to over nine runs an over.

Naveen returned for an over that didn’t exactly go as expected. The wide yorker was his default plan, and five of the first eight balls resulted in wides apart from a high full toss that Sikandar Raza flayed over short third for four. When he went full and wide again, Raza went across to lash the ball down the ground before a slower ball finally dismissed the Zimbabwe captain, whose innings only lasted five legal balls.

Rashid, who wasn’t as effective in his first three overs, knocked over the well-set Bennett for 49 with a slider. He then had Ryan Burl mistime a pull to deep backward square leg. But neither his nor Mujeeb’s stump-to-stump bowling was enough for Afghanistan to stop Zimbabwe from getting home.

The chase began with Zimbabwe under pressure because of Naveen, who started with a maiden before cramping Tadiwanashe Marumani for room on the pull.

But Naveen dropped Bennett on 8 off Azmatullah Omarzai in the fifth over. Rashid introduced himself in the final over of the powerplay but could not keep a lid on the scoring. He erred short and wide (both off and leg-side) to Myers, who picked up two fours.

The duo consolidated but a few quiet overs took the asking rate up to nine. They picked up a boundary in each of Fareed Ahmad’s first two overs and Myers deposited another Rashid long-hop over long-on in the 12th. Bennett continued the charge by smashing Omarzai for two fours before Nabi’s intervention set up a rollercoaster finish.

Earlier, Rashid had no hesitations in batting first. Rahmanullah Gurbaz wanted to take the early initiative but was undone by Richard Ngarava‘s extra bounce off the third ball of the match. Sediqullah Atal was offered a chance by Wessly Madhevere in the third over but fell in the next trying to heave Trevor Gwandu over mid-on.

Hazratullah Zazai, meanwhile, was off to a promising start, carving Ngarava through point in the first over and launching Bennett down the ground in the third before holing out off Blessing Muzarabani.

Omarzai and Karim Janat lowered the risk post-powerplay but got a boundary each off Raza to lift the run rate towards run-a-ball again. But an attempt to launch Wellington Masakadza over the top led to Omarzai getting caught at long-on.

Nabi joined Janat with Afghanistan in trouble at 58 for 5 in the 11th over. Their start together was scratchy but was made easier by sloppy fielding from Zimbabwe. Burl’s misfield at long-off turned two into three in the 12th over before Muzarabani lost sight of the ball and gave Janat the first of two boundaries in the next.

Nabi hit the gaps to get some risk-free twos before going after the returning Ngarava in the 16th over. Two boundaries took Afghanistan past 100 with four overs to go. Nabi began the death overs by taking down Gwandu for a six and three fours, the last of which came about via another fielding lapse.

Janat and Nabi added 79 off 49 before Ngarava dismissed Nabi in a seven-run 19th over. Janat, who played the anchor role, remained 54 not out off 49 balls at the end, and neither he nor Rashid could put Gwandu away for a boundary in the final over.