Afghanistan Opt to Bat, Include Akbari, Rasooli, and Naib; Zimbabwe Unchanged

Afghanistan opted to bat against Zimbabwe after toss

For the second T20I of the series, Afghanistan won the toss again and this time chose to bat first, losing the match by failing to defend their total against Zimbabwe at Harare.

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

As for Zimbabwe they retained the same XI which gave them their first-ever T20I success over Afghanistan.

The match is being played on the same strip as Wednesday’s game, and one of the square boundaries (64 metres) is considerably shorter than the other (79 metres). The cracks in the pitch are slightly wider than the other day. There is a little grass on the surface, but it has been rolled in nicely to prevent it from coming undone.

In the first T20I, Zimbabwe had limited Afghanistan to just 144 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