[MATCH THREAD] 2nd Test Afghanistan v Zimbabwe @Abu Dhabi

[sloandog]

Athar Ali Khan SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! Screaming down the microphone

[sam_ahm]

Burl has made a mess of this opportunity, Madhevere too but he will get more chances.

[zimbot]

Has Musakanda done enough to cement his place in the squad for now?

I would say yes.

Doesn't take much to cement a place in this team. Scoring the odd 40 every ten innings makes you star in this team.

[sloandog]

Burl has made a mess of this opportunity, Madhevere too but he will get more chances.

Wez is the poster boy right now, so like you say he'll get morw opportunities to show his worth..and rightly so. He's going to be a wonderful player

[grant]

Yet he used to get more runs than almost all their other batsmen somehow...

He was the best batsmen in this match (in a team that included William Porterfield, Paul Stirling, Kyle Coetzer, and Mohammad Nabi) against a full-strength England side:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/eng ... -scorecard

Apart from the lean patch that he went through in 2014, I've never really seen him struggle much.

Have you ever seen Shahzad bat? Guy slogged all day. In between he might play an actual cricket shot here and there. One game alongside a bunch of mediocre Irish batters also doesn't say a whole lot. Same with the rest of the pre-2015 Afghanistan batting lineup.

I have. Afghanistan is the team I've followed the most after Zimbabwe. I've seen enough of his batting to know he's not a brainless slogger like Hazratullah Zazai. He's an attacking batter, not really suited to opening. He's not good enough to play for a top side, definitely. I never said he was. But he was clearly one of the best Afghan batsmen, and his record reflects that.

Unfortunately, he rarely ever got a chance to play against top sides, so I don't have a lot of examples to prove my point but off the top of my head, I remember he has a hundred against India, a dominating 80-odd against West Indies, and he absolutely destroyed Steyn in one of the matches in that 2016 edition of the T20 world cup.

For what it's worth, he has a great record against Zimbabwe. That's not a great benchmark though lol.

[sloandog]

Good counter attacking batting here from Raza and Regis. Just goes to show the value of sticking around. I was really impressed with Tari but it was a weak shot

[sloandog]

Just keep pummelling Rashid Khan lads.
Get that ego nice and bruised

[Jemisi]

Tari made a 40. How is that cementing anything?

[sloandog]

Yet he used to get more runs than almost all their other batsmen somehow...

He was the best batsmen in this match (in a team that included William Porterfield, Paul Stirling, Kyle Coetzer, and Mohammad Nabi) against a full-strength England side:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/eng ... -scorecard

Apart from the lean patch that he went through in 2014, I've never really seen him struggle much.

Have you ever seen Shahzad bat? Guy slogged all day. In between he might play an actual cricket shot here and there. One game alongside a bunch of mediocre Irish batters also doesn't say a whole lot. Same with the rest of the pre-2015 Afghanistan batting lineup.

I have. Afghanistan is the team I've followed the most after Zimbabwe. I've seen enough of his batting to know he's not a brainless slogger like Hazratullah Zazai. He's an attacking batter, not really suited to opening. He's not good enough to play for a top side, definitely. I never said he was. But he was clearly one of the best Afghan batsmen, and his record reflects that.

Unfortunately, he rarely ever got a chance to play against top sides, so I don't have a lot of examples to prove my point but off the top of my head, I remember he has a hundred against India, a dominating 80-odd against West Indies, and he absolutely destroyed Steyn in one of the matches in that 2016 edition of the T20 world cup.

For what it's worth, he has a great record against Zimbabwe. That's not a great benchmark though lol.

He murdered Steyn I'm 2014 in fairness to him but then he ruined it with his press conference. Very average comments. But yea, he batter well there.
I still think he was over rated and most importantly, not a good enough wicket keeper. His weight massively restricted his movements

[CrimsonAvenger]

Fear not! Regis "Davie Houghton" Chakabva is in! Lets get rid of that 266 Reggie!