Record Afghan century puts Afghanistan in control on day one

Scorecard

After opting to bat first, Afghanistan posted a daunting 307/3 by stumps on the first day, with Afghan’s century backed by half-centuries from Ibrahim Zadran (72) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (86*).

It was a markedly improved batting performance from Afghanistan, who were bundled out for 131 and 135 in the first Test of the series, which Zimbabwe won by an easy 10 wickets.

There would have been fears of a repeat when in just the second over of the day, Victor Nyauchi had Javed Ahmadi dismissed for four. Ahmadi attempted an expansive cover drive early in his innings, but could only edge it to third slip where Sean Williams took a comfortable catch.

Rahmat Shah then partnered Ibrahim in a 50-run stand to revive the innings. Rahmat did the hard work, his 23 coming off 45 balls, but paid the price for ball-watching when he was run out pushing for a third run.

Zimbabwe had very little to cheer about thereafter as first Shahidi and then Afghan came to the middle. The highlight of the day was the counter-attacking innings from Afghanistan captain, whose 135-ball 106* is now the record highest individual Test score by an Afghanistan batsman, overtaking Rahmat’s 102.

The Zimbabwe fast bowlers troubled the batsmen only in the first half-hour with the new ball, bowling at the off-stump channel and swinging the odd ball in. Shahidi and Ibrahim made sure to see-off the new ball, and increased the run-rate once the ball had become softer.

Playing on a different surface at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, the Zimbabwe bowlers struggled, with Nyauchi and Ryan Burl restricted to a wicket each.

Afghanistan did not lose a single wicket in the final session, hammering 120 runs at 3.87 runs per over. Their dominance continued as Afghan and Shahidi stitched together 186 in 293 balls – the record-highest partnership for Afghanistan in Tests.

With plenty of batting still to come, Zimbabwe have a daunting task on the second morning.