HARARE, June 13(ABC): Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi steered Afghanistan to a 21-run win over Zimbabwe on Sunday to claim a winning 2-0 lead in their Twenty20 international series in Harare.
The tourists won the toss and made 170-5 off 20 overs on a batting-friendly track while Zimbabwe scored 149-7 in reply.
A third and final T20 match is set for Tuesday with Afghanistan chasing a white-ball tour sweep after winning the one-day international series 3-0.
“The Zimbabweans batted very well, especially (Sikandar) Raza and (Innocent) Kaia. When Rashid Khan took Raza s wicket, that was the most important one for us as it changed the game,” captain Nabi told AFP.
“(Bowler Najit Masood) has been brilliant for the last few years — he is also playing very well in the domestic league and T20 league. He deserves to be in the national team.”
Zimbabwe top scorer Kaia, who scored his maiden half century, was encouraged despite the loss.
“We bowled well today and used our powerplay well. We lost wickets here and there, but I think we were in the game.
“We just need to fine tune our middle-order batting — we need to rotate the strike more and look for boundary options.
“I m happy to score my first half century because I faced some of the best spinners in the world, like Rashid and Nabi.
“Those guys are Indian Premier League players, so for me I take it as a positive. I scored freely from their bowling so I think it is a positive.”
