Atal century and Rashid four wickets power Afghanistan past Zimbabwe

Afghanistan opened their ODI tri-series campaign with a 158-run victory over Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi on Monday, October 19, with Sediqullah Atal's century followed by four wickets for Rashid Khan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board reported that the side made 294 after choosing to bat, before dismissing Zimbabwe for 136 in pursuit of a target of 295.

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Atal scored 102 and Ibrahim Zadran contributed 90, providing the two largest innings in Afghanistan's total. Hashmatullah Shahidi added 28 and Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 25. Atal, whose century came from an innings lasting 110 balls according to Cricbuzz's match coverage, was named player of the match as Afghanistan began the tournament with a win.

Afghanistan were bowled out after using their full 50 overs, and captain Rahmat Shah acknowledged afterwards that the batting could have produced more. In comments carried by Cricbuzz, he said the team had been looking towards 300 or even 320 before successive wickets reduced that ambition. He identified avoiding those losses as an area to improve in similar situations.

Zimbabwe's chase was checked early by Fazalhaq Farooqi, who finished with 2-15 from five overs. Rashid then returned 4-17 from eight overs, including a maiden, while Allah Ghazanfar took 1-21 and Mohammad Nabi 1-37, according to BBC Sport's scorecard. Those four bowlers accounted for eight of the wickets as Zimbabwe were dismissed in 38.4 overs at Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Sikandar Raza made 48 and Ryan Burl 31, but their efforts could not rebuild the chase sufficiently after the early setbacks. Cricbuzz reported that Raza was dropped three times during his innings. The match ended with Wellington Masakadza run out for two, Zia Sharifi's direct hit completing the dismissal as Zimbabwe attempted a second run.

Brendan Taylor, speaking after the game in comments carried by Cricbuzz, said Zimbabwe had been outplayed and needed a stronger foundation against Afghanistan's spinners. Afghanistan's next match is against Bangladesh on Wednesday, the cricket board confirmed. That fixture follows a performance in which their two leading batters supplied 192 runs and Farooqi and Rashid shared six wickets.