, জিম্বাবুয়ে তৃতীয় দিন

আফগানিস্তান 402 for 7 (Rahmanullah 113, Atal 105, Rahmat 94*, Nyamhuri 4-62) trail জিম্বাবুয়ে 504 by 102 রান

আফগানিস্তান 402 for 7 (Rahmanullah 113, Atal 105, Rahmat 94*, Nyamhuri 4-62) trail জিম্বাবুয়ে 504 by 102 রান। The তৃতীয় দিন's play in Sharjah might not have lived up to its reputation of being a moving day, but the six উইকেট that জিম্বাবুয়ে were able to get across the afternoon and evening sessions, courtesy Graeme Cremer and Newman Nyamhuri, were enough to put জিম্বাবুয়ে in control of the first Test again আফগানিস্তান.। Despite valiant শতক from debutant Rahmanullah and Sediqullah Atal, and a gritty 94 not out from their অধিনায়ক Rahmat Shah, আফগানিস্তান were still 102 রান short of জিম্বাবুয়ে's massive first-innings score of 504 with only three উইকেট in hand.।

It seemed as if it would be a long day in the field for জিম্বাবুয়ে on Saturday as Rahmanullah and Atal recorded the highest second-উইকেট অনবদ্য জুটি for আফগানিস্তান in Tests, stretching their overnight stand of 99 রান to 206. This was also only the fourth time that a অনবদ্য জুটি of more than 200 was recorded by an আফগানিস্তান pair in the format.। With not much to extract from the pitch, and the ball continuing to get old and soft, Rahmanullah and Atal decided to make the most of the benign conditions. The latter pulled Blessing Muzarabani for a boundary in the second over of the day, and later, Rahmanullah welcomed Antum Naqvi with a monstrous slog sweep out of the ground. That resulted in a brief halt in play as the staff of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium retrieved the ball from the road beside the ground.। The two negotiated both pace and spin with command. They rotated the strike with ease, and smashed boundaries whenever they were served anything loose. Twenty-three-year-old Rahmanullah was especially impressive on his international debut as he played all around the dial with great fluency. He drove through the covers, and accessed the leg side by sweeping the ball with great control.।

The sturdy stand pushed the জিম্বাবুয়ে bowlers towards desperation as they resorted to unorthodox methods in search of a breakthrough. Muzarabani went both over and around the উইকেট to both the batters to create unusual angles, while Nyamhuri even released the ball from way behind the stumps to try and unsettle the pair.। Tossed up full around middle and leg, goes down and attempts to go for a sweep towards fine leg and ends up getting back of the bat and it goes to Atal at first slip, gets out in an unfortunate fashion as আফগানিস্তান rejoice after finally managing to pick their first উইকেট। Cleaned him up with a JAFFA and Saleem screams in the face of Curran।

A ferocious yorker angles in on the stumps with pinpoint line and length, completely baffling Curran. The ব্যাটার attempts to block inside the line of the ball but fails to get behind it in time and loses his balance a bit as his front foot goes up in the air. Saleem sprints forward, throwing punches in the air and screaming his lungs out in joy, shooting a few fiery glances toward Curran. The ব্যাটার turns around, shakes his head and mutters to himself in disappointment.। Taylor bites the dust। A brilliant innings finally comes to an end. Floated a length ball around off, tries to play it inside-out over extra cover, but fails to get inside the line of the ball properly and miscues it towards long off, doesn't get quite hold of it and picks out the fielder there. Massive round of applause from the dressing room and the gallery, as Taylor trudges back.।

Bennett loses his cool and throws his উইকেট away। A harmless, floated fuller delivery in the slot wide outside off is chased as he tries to send it downtown, but he miscues the slog. Failing to get underneath the line of the ball, he mistimes it toward the cover region, where Zia-ur-Rehman tracks back and gobbles it up while tumbling down. Bennett knew what he had done the moment he played the shot, his head dropping instantly in disappointment.। Massive appeal and the finger goes up straight away।

Flighted a good length ball pitching around middle-off, plays off the front foot and gets deceived by the slight turn, strikes the back pad and looks quite adjacent to me from here.। Naqvi departs after getting strangled down the legside। Soft dismissal and brilliant glovework behind the stumps. Floated a length ball pitching well outside the leg stump and spins back in, tries to help it away against the turn, gets a tickle off the bat and Alikhil grabs it cleanly and makes no mistake. Naqvi was looking solid with the bat in his short stay on his international debut, but gifted his উইকেট away in the end against a loose delivery.।

Madhevere is on the floor; he is completely bamboozled and outclassed by the bumper delivery। আফগানিস্তান continue to utilize short ball tactics. This one was darted short on the stumps, getting too big on Madhevere, who tries to leave it alone. He fails to get away from the line of the ball, losing his shape inside the crease with his bat face still extended involuntarily, connecting to a top edge and a regulation catch for the keeper behind the stumps. Madhevere lies down on the ground, helpless, beaten, defeated, with both eyes open and watching the sunny sky.। Trapped in front and gone।

Misjudging the line and length, this one is quicker through the air on a length and traps Tsiga on the back leg. The ব্যাটার moves onto the back foot to work it across the line, misses a straight delivery, and it looks dead plumb to the naked eye. Tsiga walks away immediately, undone by playing down the wrong line.। Good length ball nips back in just a wee bit on middle-leg. Nyamhuri fails to get behind the line of the ball and misses the delivery, thuds the pad in front of the stumps and the umpire raises his finger right away.। Cleaned him up with a straightner।

Hard length ball darted on the off stump channel. Muzarabani backs away too early, expecting another yorker or bouncer delivery. But this one is a seamed-up delivery right on the channel, catching Muzarabani off-guard, and he fails to defend inside the line of the ball, knocking over the off stump.। And there is a উইকেট। He is caught behind on the most innocuous ball that Cremer could have bowled all day. Short and wide, a gentle leg-break. He looks to carve this through the point by opening the face of his bat but is too lazy as he extends his arms without any foot movement. It takes a tickle off his inside edge on its way to the keeper's gloves.।

Short and angled outside leg-stump, a harmless delivery and he fiddles with it, gets a faint tickle on it and it has been pouched splendidly by the keeper while diving to his left। Malik departs early in the piece and it's turning out to be a fabulous start by জিম্বাবুয়ে। Is that the end of Rahmanullah।

Tossed up in stumps and Rahmanullah scampers to the other end right away as he taps it to the mid-on. Madhevere gathers the ball and hurls it to the non-striker's end where Zadran is found short of the crease by the third umpire. Both centurions are back in the pavilion now. Excellent fielding। Three-quarter length ball pitching well outside off, plays the square drive away from the body and keeps the full face of the bat planted, connects the sticker part of the bat and edges it to the gully fielder.। Soft dismissal once again।

Length ball darted wide outside the leg stump line, Shahidullah takes the bait and tries to glance it away, tickles off the bat and Tsiga grabs a well judged catch diving full stretched to his right side। And Ikram throws away his উইকেট. Short and wide from round the উইকেট, it turned into stumps, and Ikram rocked back to drill it through the covers but ended up handing a low catch to Ben Curran at cover. জিম্বাবুয়ে bag another crucial উইকেট.। Nyamhuri is pumped up and he deserves all the credit।

Full and overpitched, well outside off, tempting Qais into a false stroke. With zero foot movement, he flashes at an expansive cover drive away from his body, managing only an outside edge. Tsiga takes a brilliant low catch, diving to his right, leaving Rahmat Shah standing utterly baffled, astonished and shell-shocked, fixing a stern glare on Qais from the non-striker's end.।