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

[sloandog]

Tari made a 40. How is that cementing anything?

Compared to the other young lads mate he's at least shown he can hang around

[zimbot]

We can blame Tari, Wes and Ryan, but for me the senior guys are supposed to show more responsibility. No idea why Wes is batting ahead of Raza and Burl ahead of Chakabva. You want your best batters up the order on a wicket like this. We should've gone with

Prince
Kasuza
Williams
Raza
Tari
Chakabva
Wes
Burl

The game is not over. Both Chakabva and Raza can bat long.

[zimbot]

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

He's not that far from breaking the record. Only 241 runs to go.

[Jemisi]

Gee they make some dodgy appeals

[Jemisi]

c'mon Regis

[Jemisi]

These two must be together at stumps

[grant]

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

It was Rabada he had batted well against, not Steyn. My apologies. In the press conference, when he was asked about Steyn's absence, he mentioned he was unhappy that Morris was playing instead of Steyn since Steyn was a skiddy bowler and the pitch didn't suit bowlers like him. The pitch suited bowlers like Morris who relied more on cutters and changes of pace. Morris was the most successful bowler that day due to his bowling style. In fact, Du Plessis himself confirmed it. He didn't really intend to disrespect Steyn, but it probably came off that way to native English speakers.

[tej_27]

Madhevere and burl still have one innings to prove ..I am banking on them to get us through in the next innings

[sloandog]

He upper cut Steyn for 6 in that game I'm sure of it

[sloandog]

I'm banking on Raza to ton up here. There's enough poor bowling to capitalise