Afghanistan Beat Zimbabwe by Seven Wickets to Sweep T20I Series 3-0 as Noor Ahmad Takes Career-Best 5/13

Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the third and final T20I at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday, November 1. The win gave them a 3-0 clean sweep of the series. Spinner Noor Ahmad took a career-best 5 for 13 and was named Player of the Match. It was a one-sided game that ended with 71 balls to spare.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to field. Zimbabwe had a terrible start. They lost three wickets in the powerplay and were 37 for 3 after six overs. Noor then took over. The left-arm wrist-spinner cleaned up the middle and lower order. Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 79 in 14.3 overs. At one point, Noor took three wickets in a single over. The figures of 5 for 13 are the best of his T20I career.

Afghanistan made four changes to their side for the final game, and Tarakhail made his debut. The chase was never in doubt. Blessing Muzarabani's first over went for 15 runs, even though Afghanistan lost a wicket straight away. Azmatullah Omarzai, who had scored a century in the second T20I, walked in and hit a huge six that cleared the ground. Afghanistan were 54 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.

Captain Ibrahim Zadran and Omarzai then guided the team home. Ibrahim hit four boundaries off Ernest Masuku in the seventh over, which went for 18. He scored 25 off 15 balls. Afghanistan finished on 81 for 3 in just 8.1 overs, and they needed only 80 to win.

The series was a one-way contest. Afghanistan won the first T20I by 37 runs on October 27. They then won the second by 19 runs on October 29. In that game, Omarzai scored 116 off 50 balls after Afghanistan had been 5 for 4. Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza replied with an unbeaten 106, but it was not enough. Rashid Khan also became the first men's bowler to take 200 T20I wickets in that match.

Afghanistan's batters did not have much to do in the final game. They took less than nine overs to finish the job and complete the sweep.