HARARE: Host Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 2 runs in a low-scoring thriller of the ICC World Cup 2018 Qualifier at Harare on Tuesday night.
This is Afghanistan’s second consecutive defeat in the tournament. They lost the first game from Scotland by wickets.
With this defeat, Afghanistan’s chances to advance in the Super Six round have shrunk.
Earlier, Zimbabwe elected to bat first after winning the toss. The decision did not bear the expected fruit as Afghanistan leg-spin duo Mujeeb Zadran and stand-in skipper Rashid Khan bagged three wickets apiece to restrict Zimbabwe to just 196 runs.
This looked a certain win until Afghanistan came in to bat.
They were in the game in most part of the second innings. But the Rehmat Shah (69) and Mohammad Nabi (51) lost their wickets in quick succession.
Afghanistan needed just 32 runs when Nabi got out in 37th over, it was their game by all means. But then something happened.
Afghanistan lost the plot, wickets kept tumbling and finally, they lost by two runs in the final over.
