Harare [Zimbabwe], December 21 : 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 here 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.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bowl first against Zimbabwe. Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi's decision helped Afghanistan as they bundled out Zimbabwe at 127 in just 31 overs.
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.
Sikandar Raza (13 runs from 18 balls, 2 fours) and Ben Curran (12 runs from 31 balls, 1 four) were the other Zimbabwean batters who tried their best to add some crucial runs on the board.
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.
Ghazanfar was named the 'Player of the Match' following his five-wicket haul in the match while Sediqullah Atal was judged as the 'Player of the Series' award.
Brief score: Zimbabwe 127 (Sean Williams 60, Sikandar Raza 13; AM Ghazanfar 5/33) vs Afghanistan 131/2 (Sediqullah Atal 52, Abdul Malik 29; Trevor Gwandu 1/27).