ZIM vs AFG 2024/25, Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan 2nd T20I, Harare Match Report, December 13, 2024

Toss Afghanistan chose to bat vs Zimbabwe

Despite being unable to defend their total in the series opener, Afghanistan elected to bat once again on winning the toss in the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare.

The visitors, however, made three changes as they look to level the series. While Gulbadin Naib came into the team as a like-for-like replacement for seam-bowling allrounder Karim Janat, batters Zubaid Akbari and Darwish Rasooli replaced Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Ishaq. Akbari’s only other appearance for Afghanistan was in the Asian Games against India last year.

Zimbabwe named the same XI that got them their first T20I win over Afghanistan.

The match is being played on the same strip as Wednesday’s game, and one square boundary (64 metres) is significantly shorter than the other (79 metres). The cracks in the pitch are a little wider than the other day. There is some grass on the surface, but it has been rolled in nicely to keep it together.

Zimbabwe had restricted Afghanistan to 144 in the first T20I, before sealing a last-ball thriller to go 1-0 up.

Zimbabwe: 1 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 2 Brian Bennett, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Wessly Madhevere, 5 Sikandar Raza (capt), 6 Ryan Burl, 7 Tashinga Musekiwa, 8 Wellington Masakadza, 9 Richard Ngarava, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Trevor Gwandu

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Zubaid Akbari, 4 Darwish Rasooli, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fareed Ahmed