Afghanistan National Cricket Team lost their 2nd One Day International (ODI) match to Zimbabwe by 154 runs. 

However, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi made history after becoming the first Afghan player to ever reach 2,000 runs in ODIs for his country. 

With the five match series now hanging in the balance at 1-1, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will look to stick to what has worked for them so far when they meet for their next match on Tuesday.

After being trounced by Afghanistan in the opening ODI of the series, by a whopping 154 runs, Zimbabwe bounced back by winning the second match by the exact same margin, making for pleasing symmetry. 

In the first game, Afghanistan scored 333/5 and then bowled Zimbabwe out for 179 – the teams swapped ends in the second match, with the margin of result staying the exactly same.

Despite a sterling performance in their first match, a chink in Afghanistan’s batting was exposed on Sunday, the ICC reported adding that Afghanistan did however hold an array of talented spin bowlers, which gives them the edge against Zimbabwe.

To their credit, Zimbabwe did their homework after the first ODI, and the experience of Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza helped them turn the tables. Once again, a lot of Zimbabwe’s hopes rest on these two batsmen and their ability to produce match-defining knocks. 

In the bowling department, the combination of Graeme Cremer, the leg-spinner, and Tendai Chatara, the paceman – who ran havoc in the second ODI – could prove to be a threat for the Afghan batsmen in the next match.

The teams will face each other again on Tuesday in Sharjah in the UAE.