The bilateral series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe for two tests and three T20I matches was played at UAE from 2 March to 20 March 2021. Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe 2021 series started with the 1st International Test match at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on 2 March 2021. Abdul Malik, Abdul Wasi, and Munir Ahmad were making their test debut for Afghanistan, and Wesley Madhevere for Zimbabwe in that match. Afghanistan captain, Asghar Afghan won the toss and decided to have the bat in hand first. Abdul Malik and Ibrahim Zadran were sent on the crease to open for Afg and Blessing Muzarabani got the new ball in hand to open the attack.
In the first inning of Afghanistan, they lost their 1 wicket at the score of 0 runs, and the falling of wickets was continued and had lost 5 wickets at the small score of 69 runs in 15.3 overs only. Zimbabwe bowlers did an excellent job and sent back half of the team and had made a strong grip on the match. Afghanistan batsmen needed a partnership but no Afgan batsmen could stay longer in front of Zimbabwe bowlers and the entire team was bowled out at the score of 131 runs only in 47 overs. Blessing Muzarabani and Victor Nyauchi of Zimbabwe performed very well with the ball and took 4, and 3 wickets for his team.
In the first inning of Zimbabwe, Prince Masvaure and Kevin Kasuza were on the crease and Yamin Ahmadzai got the responsibility to deliver the first over with the red ball. Zimbabwe did not get a good start and lost their first wicket of Kevin Kasuza in the very first over and he was sent back for 0 by Yamin Ahmadzai and then Tarisai Musakanda came to join Prince Masvaure but could not stay longer and was dismissed by Amir Hamza. Zimbabwe’s team came under pressure because they lost two other wickets of Prince Masvaure and Wesley Madhevere consecutively at the score of 38 runs. Sean Williams, the captain played the captaincy inning and handled the situation, and made 105 runs but did not get enough support from other batsmen. Finally, Zimbabwe had put a total of 250 runs on the scoreboard and got the lead of 119 runs. Amir Hamza of Afghanistan played a key role in collapsing the Zimbabwe team, he took 6 important wickets of Zim.
In the second inning of Afghanistan, Ibrahim Zadran and Abdul Malik were ready to face the Zim bowlers and Blessing Muzarabani got the new ball in hand to open the attack. Again, Afgan’s batsmen struggled with the bat and continued their flop show. No batsmen except Ibrahim Zadran could stay longer on the crease and the entire team collapsed at the total of 135 runs only. Ibrahim Zadran made some effort to handle the situation and made 76 runs. Zimbabwe bowlers performed very well, especially Victor Nyauchi and Donald Tiripano, who took 3 wickets each for their team. Zimbabwe got the target of 17 runs to win the 1st test match of the WI vs AFG 2021 series.
Prince Masvaure and Kevin Kasuza were sent on the crease to chase the target and Amir Hamza got the new ball in hand to open the attack. Both the openers achieved the target in 3.2 overs as that was not a big target.
Zimbabwe won the 1st test match of the Afg vs WI series in UAE 2021 by 10 wickets and Sean Williams was named Man of the Match.