A dominant display with the bat led by a century from Rahmat Shah saw Afghanistan annihilate Zimbabwe by 154 runs in the first ODI of the five-match series in Sharjah last night.
In pursuit of 334 to win, Zimbabwe’s chase never really got going. Solomon Mire top-scored with a brisk 34 off 26 balls and later Craig Ervine (33) and Skinadar Raza (25) put together something of a partnership but when Ervine fell – at just about the time of Rashid Khan’s introduction with the ball – so began a collapse from which Zimbabwe could not recover.
The 19-year-old leg-spinner ended with the remarkable figures of 4/26 off just 5.4 overs, clean bowling Brian Vitori for 8 to secure a 154-run victory, as Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets for 51 runs.
The result means Afghanistan remain unbeaten on this tour – following their 2-0 victory in the T20 series just gone.
The second ODI will be at Sharjah again on Sunday.
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