Harare [Zimbabwe], December 21 : Following his side's victory over Zimbabwe in the third ODI match of the series, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said that everyone in the squad knows their role and takes responsibility.
AM Ghazanfar's five-wicket haul and Sediqullah Atal's half-century powered Afghanistan to clinch an eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the third match of the series at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
With the victory, Afghanistan clinched a 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe in the three-match ODI series. The first match of the series was called off without any result due to incessant rain.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Shahidi said that he was very happy with the way the team performed in all three departments in the game. The skipper hailed Ghazanfar for his stupendous performance in the game.
"I am very happy with the way the team performed in all three departments. And Uh, I can say again that I'm feeling really, really happy and moving forward for the next Uh, test series. I think if you look at every point everyone was doing very good and I mentioned in the last Match also that everyone takes responsibility. Everyone knows their role. So that's the reason. I think some youngsters who are coming to the team like Ghazanfar from the last two to three series. He is doing very well for the team and Hopefully, he carry on the same momentum and bowl well for us in the future also," Shahidi was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
Shahidi added that Sediqullah Atal and Abdul Malik had a "fantastic" performance in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. He also hoped they will carry the form in the upcoming Champions Trophy.
"Look at Sediq (Atal) and Malik. These two have batted in this ODI series was also fantastic. And I'm very happy with that. Yeah. (Youngsters) Uh, I think they played their role really nicely, and The good thing is that we have senior guys in the team like Nabi Rashid Rahmat Um, with them the youngsters are also doing good, so it's the combination of both senior and youngster so happy with the team and hopefully we carry on and We take that momentum to Champions trophy also. It's a good chance for us to do something special in this Champions Trophy," he added.
Recapping the match, Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bowl first against Zimbabwe.
Sean Williams (60 runs from 61 balls, 6 fours and 3 sixes) was the only player who shone in the first inning for Zimbabwe, scoring the highest run for the hosts. Apart from Williams, other Zimbabwe batters failed to stand still in front of the Afghan bowling attack.
Ghazanfar led the Afghanistan bowling attack and restricted Zimbabwe to 127 with 19 overs remaining. Ghazanfar bagged five wickets in his 10-over spell and gifted 33 runs at an economy rate of 3.30. Rashid Khan also picked up three wickets in his eight-over spell.
During the run chase, Sediqullah Atal (52 runs from 50 balls, 4 fours and 2 sixes) and Abdul Malik (29 runs from 66 balls, 4 fours) opened for the visitors and cemented an 84-run partnership. The Afghan openers made the job easier for the middle-order batters to chase the target.
Later in the inning, Rahmat Shah (17* runs from 23 balls, 2 fours) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (20* runs from 22 balls, 3 fours) stayed unbeaten on the crease to add the winning runs on the board and helped his clinch an 8-wicket win over Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe displayed a sloppy performance with the ball, only Richard Ngarava and Trevor Gwandu managed to pick wickets in the second inning.