- Noor Five for Seals 3-0 series win for Afghanistan in Sharjah. The Afghan spinner sealed his team’s dominant victory with his maiden T20I five for with seven wickets off 71 deliveries. The three that matter: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, all smiling after dismissing Pat Cummins. The three that matter: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, all smiles after watching Pat Cummins, India vs Australia, World Cup, Chennai, October 8, 2023 But Zimbabwe didn’t give them much to offer as Noor Ahmad’s first five-wicket haul – 5 for 13 in a span of 3.3 overs – led to an impressive seven-wicket haul for Afghanistan.
- Zadran’s side surpassed the paltry target of 80 in just 49 balls to register the second-best win in terms of balls remaining in the format.
- The victory enabled Afghanistan to defeat Zimbabwe and claim their 22nd T20I victory in 24 matches.
Noor Five for Seals 3-0 series win for Afghanistan in Sharjah. The Afghan spinner sealed his team’s dominant victory with his maiden T20I five for with seven wickets off 71 deliveries. The three that matter: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, all smiling after dismissing Pat Cummins. The three that matter: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, all smiles after watching Pat Cummins, India vs Australia, World Cup, Chennai, October 8, 2023 But Zimbabwe didn’t give them much to offer as Noor Ahmad’s first five-wicket haul – 5 for 13 in a span of 3.3 overs – led to an impressive seven-wicket haul for Afghanistan.
Zadran’s side surpassed the paltry target of 80 in just 49 balls to register the second-best win in terms of balls remaining in the format. The victory enabled Afghanistan to defeat Zimbabwe and claim their 22nd T20I victory in 24 matches. It was a typical Sharjah pitch, meant to be played slowly as the game progressed.
He suffered from grass coloration which made it difficult to negotiate with the faster bowlers at the start of the innings. And while the new ball did its tricks and moved wildly through the air – particularly when Fazalhaq Farooqi, who had missed the last game, came to bowl – the Zimbabwean star’s questionable shot selection allowed the Afghan fast bowlers to make early progress. Farooqi had Innocent Kaia give the wicketkeeper a blow as he headed his final delivery through the batsman in the first over of the game.
Azmatullah Omarzai, the hero of the last match and player of the series, had Brian Bennett caught in the middle with a floating throw outside the offside at the start of the second period. Afghanistan had taken consecutive wickets to reduce Zimbabwe to 8 for 2. Her team, Sikander Raza, tried to fight back after struggling for just two runs off seven balls.
As debutant Abdullah Tarakhail was introduced into the attack, Raza missed a ground shot mid-on, giving the 25-year-old his first international wicket with just his second ball. Abdullah Tarakhail takes a wicket on debut, Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe, 3rd T20I, Sharjah, November 1, 2026 As the powerplay came to an end and Zimbabwe struggled for runs, Ryan Burl came into the game with consecutive boundaries against Omarzai in the fifth over. Although the first shot came from the front edge and flew past the goalkeeper, the second was a remarkable shot where he fired a long ball over the middle to make it four.
He sent Tarakhail to the fence twice in the next game to bring his team to 37 for three at the end of the power play. Twenty-one of these came from Burl’s Bat. This series was played without a DRS system for the players and there were some controversial calls from the referees in this game, one of which resulted in Burl being sent off.
One of them led to an argument between Burl and Rashid Khan after a call from LBW was rejected. Burl was hit on his front pad in the line of stump when he missed a reverse swing and the umpire’s decision angered the leg-spinner. Three balls later, he had a heated exchange with Burl and the two had to be separated by Ahmad Shah Pakteen, one of the two on-field umpires.
At the end of the game, the two continued to be at loggerheads, this time forcing Farooq Khan, the other on-field umpire, to separate them. Ironically, Burl was relegated lbw in the next over by Abdollah Ahmadzai on a ball that peared to slide down the leg side as two and a half stumps were visible at the time of impact. He scored 30/29 in an innings in which the next best score was 10/17 by Wessly Madhevere.
By the end of the next over – the 11th of the innings – Afghanistan were bowling to Zimbabwe’s tail, thanks to Noor Ahmad, whose three of his five wickets came in four balls in this over as Zimbabwe struggled to pick his variations. Madhevere seemed eager to counter with a reverse sweep attempt against Noor Ahmad in the next round. His failure to add points to the total score then forced him to the ground, causing confusion as he lacked speed on the wrong flight.
Ibrahim Zadran remained unbeaten in Afghanistan’s short chase, Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe, 3rd T20I, Sharjah, November 1, 2026. Noor turned the wicket to Tafadzwa Tsiga on the next ball and had him caught in the slips of another wrong ball. Tadiwanashe Marumani handed him his third wicket, a ball after his hat-trick – a floater that tempted Marumani to go big. The batsman got through to the end where Omarzai made a brilliant diving catch.
Noor took the final two wickets in his next two overs, the last of which ended Zimbabwe’s innings at 14.3 overs and just 79 runs, the second lowest total in the format. After his career-best return, Noor now averages 5.66 for his nine wickets against Zimbabwe. His best performance to date of 4/10 came against them in Harare in 2022.
Afghanistan had poor starts in the powerplay in the first two T20Is of this series. Ibrahim Zadran mentioned during the draw that the team is keen to rectify this. The pettiness of the goal allowed them to play freely.
Mohammad Akram, who was promoted to starter in the absence of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, struck wildly on all five balls he faced. The first three of those shots pushed him to the limit, but he was caught on the last shot – midway through the opening game. Zimbabwe picked up a couple of wickets in the fifth over from Ernest Masuku, but by then Sediqullah Atal’s boundary-pushing innings had already brought Afghanistan closer to victory.
Omarzai dismissed Nyamhuri with a six over deep third as Afghanistan finished the powerplay with a comfortable score of 54 for 3. Zadran smoked four limits from Masuku and the last rites of the hunt were performed by Omarzai. He played a hoick shot after a long hop from Vincent Masekesa and blasted the ball for a huge six as Afghanistan registered their second-biggest win in terms of balls remaining in the T20Is and also secured a 3-0 win in the series.
The Afghan spinner’s first T20I five sealed his team’s dominant win by seven wickets off 71 deliveries. Noor Ahmad secured a fiver as Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 79, Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, 3rd T20I, Sharjah, November 1, 2026 Soft dismissal and both opening batters return to the hut! He lunges forward and plays the forehand out of the air with the front foot, failing to generate enough power or height to esce the infield, and picks out the midfield defensive player on the edge of the circle. Farooqi strikes again with the new ball.
A longer ball throws around the fifth channel of the off-stump and away, plays away from the body and does not come near the line of the ball, no visible movement of the foot and tickles the outer part of the bat towards the wicketkeeper for a regular catch. Bad performance for Kaia, who looked vulnerable from the start today. First international wicket for Abdullah Tarakhil and he gets a huge one!
He will certainly remember this for many years to come. The long ball with some width is offered outside and Raza looks to hit it to the offside. He failed to grab it and made a mistake in the middle where Afghanistan ctain Ibrahim Zadran waited for the catch and gobbled it up.
Zimbabwe is currently in great difficulty. Full of pads and fishing. Burl tries to push him away but fails to hit him and he hits his back leg.
A huge sound from the bowler and the umpire is convinced! Rashid Khan raises his finger and signals Burl to come out. Did it slip down the leg stump?
You have to wait for the replay. Burl comes straight from the field and is certainly in a very bad mood today. Beaten, everything ends and the goalkeeper immediately celebrates!
Nice pitch forward, flying throw and a little spin to deceive the batsman. Madhevere had no idea about the bad ball and plays with hard hands towards the cover zone, misses the line and length and comes out of the goal area and he is miles away from the goal area. I don’t know why the square leg umpire sent it to the third umpire, but it is what it is.
Caught in the deep and Noor Ahmad is absolutely having fun with the ball! This is the Chinese wizard’s third wicket. He takes a fuller delivery from the wicket and Marumani steps into the line to hit it straight past the wicket.
Omarzai comes back, dives left and catches the catch cleanly as he dives into the spotlight. Cheers erupt among the team on the field and Omarzai ends up on the ground after losing his balance while high-fiving Noor. Wonderful team spirit from Afghanistan!
Chips it to the slip fielder! The ball is flown of good length and angled towards the stumps, Tsiga gets two thoughts and then decides to work through the line, closing the face of the bat too early and giving the leading edge to the slippery fielder who makes no mistake there. I floated a longer ball into the hole.
Nyamhuri steps back early to create space, plays inside out, misses the lunge and lands on middle leg stump. Splices it to deep third! The ball is wide out and Muzarabani throws the kitchen sink at it, takes the leading edge and flies it straight into the third deep zone where the sweeper gobbles it up clean.
Muzarabani looks worriedly at his bat. That’s dead-plumb. Transporting five wickets for Noor Ahmad!
The long ball flew a little slower over the stumps and turned just enough to deceive the tailender. He gets caught on the back foot while playing, fails to block it in front of the stumps and is crushed on the back pad. Now these are the best bowling figures for Noor Ahmad in T20I cricket!
He jumps for joy to celebrate this milestone before heading down to perform Sijdah. Farooqi strikes again with the new ball. Fuller length ball pitching around the fifth stump channel and angling away, plays away from the body and gets nowhere near the line of the ball, no visible foot movement and tickles off the outside part of the bat to the wicketkeeper for a regulation catch.
Bad performance for Kaia, who looked vulnerable from the start today. Gentle dismissal and the two opening batters return to the hut! He lunges forward and plays the forehand out of the air with the front foot, failing to generate enough power or height to esce the infield, and picks out the midfield defensive player on the edge of the circle.
First international wicket for Abdullah Tarakhil and he gets a huge one! He will certainly remember this for many years to come. The long ball with some width is offered outside and Raza looks to hit it to the offside.
He failed to grab it and made a mistake in the middle where Afghanistan ctain Ibrahim Zadran waited for the catch and gobbled it up. Zimbabwe is currently in great difficulty. Splices it to deep third!
The ball is wide out and Muzarabani throws the kitchen sink at it, takes the leading edge and flies it straight into the third deep zone where the sweeper gobbles it up clean. Muzarabani looks worriedly at his bat. Beaten, everything ends and the goalkeeper immediately celebrates!
Nice pitch forward, flying throw and a little spin to deceive the batsman. Madhevere had no idea about the bad ball and plays with hard hands towards the cover zone, misses the line and length and comes out of the goal area and he is miles away from the goal area. I don’t know why the square leg umpire sent it to the third umpire, but it is what it is.
Chips it to the slip fielder! The ball is flown of good length and angled towards the stumps, Tsiga gets two thoughts and then decides to work through the line, closing the face of the bat too early and giving the leading edge to the slippery fielder who makes no mistake there. Caught in the deep and Noor Ahmad is absolutely having fun with the ball!
This is the Chinese wizard’s third wicket. He takes a fuller delivery from the wicket and Marumani steps into the line to hit it straight past the wicket. Omarzai comes back, dives left and catches the catch cleanly as he dives into the spotlight.
Cheers erupt among the team on the field and Omarzai ends up on the ground after losing his balance while high-fiving Noor. Wonderful team spirit from Afghanistan! I floated a longer ball into the hole.
Nyamhuri steps back early to create space, plays inside out, misses the lunge and lands on middle leg stump. That’s dead-plumb. Transporting five wickets for Noor Ahmad!
The long ball flew a little slower over the stumps and turned just enough to deceive the tailender. He gets caught on the back foot while playing, fails to block it in front of the stumps and is crushed on the back pad. Now these are the best bowling figures for Noor Ahmad in T20I cricket!
He jumps for joy to celebrate this milestone before heading down to perform Sijdah. Full of pads and fishing. Burl tries to push him away but fails to hit him and he hits his back leg.
A huge sound from the bowler and the umpire is convinced! Rashid Khan raises his finger and signals Burl to come out. Did it slip down the leg stump?
You have to wait for the replay. Burl comes straight from the field and is certainly in a very bad mood today. Farooqi strikes again with the new ball.
A longer ball throws around the fifth channel of the off-stump and away, plays away from the body and does not come near the line of the ball, no visible movement of the foot and tickles the outer part of the bat towards the wicketkeeper for a regular catch. Bad performance for Kaia, who looked vulnerable from the start today. Gentle dismissal and the two opening batters return to the hut!
He lunges forward and plays the forehand out of the air with the front foot, failing to generate enough power or height to esce the infield, and picks out the midfield defensive player on the edge of the circle. First international wicket for Abdullah Tarakhil and he gets a huge one! He will certainly remember this for many years to come.
The long ball with some width is offered outside and Raza looks to hit it to the offside. He failed to grab it and made a mistake in the middle where Afghanistan ctain Ibrahim Zadran waited for the catch and gobbled it up. Zimbabwe is currently in great difficulty.
Full of pads and fishing. Burl tries to push him away but fails to hit him and he hits his back leg. A huge sound from the bowler and the umpire is convinced!
Rashid Khan raises his finger and signals Burl to come out. Did it slip down the leg stump? You have to wait for the replay.
Burl comes straight from the field and is certainly in a very bad mood today. Beaten, everything ends and the goalkeeper immediately celebrates! Nice pitch forward, flying throw and a little spin to deceive the batsman.
Madhevere had no idea about the bad ball and plays with hard hands towards the cover zone, misses the line and length and comes out of the goal area and he is miles away from the goal area. I don’t know why the square leg umpire sent it to the third umpire, but it is what it is. Chips it to the slip fielder!
The ball is flown of good length and angled towards the stumps, Tsiga gets two thoughts and then decides to work through the line, closing the face of the bat too early and giving the leading edge to the slippery fielder who makes no mistake there. Caught in the deep and Noor Ahmad is absolutely having fun with the ball! This is the Chinese wizard’s third wicket.
He takes a fuller delivery from the wicket and Marumani steps into the line to hit it straight past the wicket. Omarzai comes back, dives left and catches the catch cleanly as he dives into the spotlight. Cheers erupt among the team on the field and Omarzai ends up on the ground after losing his balance while high-fiving Noor.
Wonderful team spirit from Afghanistan! I floated a longer ball into the hole. Nyamhuri steps back early to create space, plays inside out, misses the lunge and lands on middle leg stump.
Splices it to deep third! The ball is wide out and Muzarabani throws the kitchen sink at it, takes the leading edge and flies it straight into the third deep zone where the sweeper gobbles it up clean. Muzarabani looks worriedly at his bat.
That’s dead-plumb. Transporting five wickets for Noor Ahmad! The long ball flew a little slower over the stumps and turned just enough to deceive the tailender.
He gets caught on the back foot while playing, fails to block it in front of the stumps and is crushed on the back pad. Now these are the best bowling figures for Noor Ahmad in T20I cricket! He jumps for joy to celebrate this milestone before heading down to perform Sijdah.
Finally some space for Muzarabani to breathe! Akram jumps further up, tries to pick him up and misses the shot, sending a gift to the Zimbabwe ctain on the left side of midfield, who rushes forward and puts it in his pocket. Akram is angry with himself and hits his pad with his bat as he trudges back to the dugout.
The back of a long ball held in the field around the sixth channel of the off-stump steps forward and hits it squarely a little too early, erroneously sending it towards the backward point fielder for an easy catch. Atal stands there, confused by the nature of the ground, staring at the grass in disbelief. Silver duck for Noor!
He sends a long ball to the stumps, tries to hit it off the back foot and plays on the wrong line, hitting the inside of the thigh in front of the stumps. Masuku enthusiastically pleads for LBW and the referee finally raises his finger! Finally some space for Muzarabani to breathe!
Akram jumps further up, tries to pick him up and misses the shot, sending a gift to the Zimbabwe ctain on the left side of midfield, who rushes forward and puts it in his pocket. Akram is angry with himself and hits his pad with his bat as he trudges back to the dugout. The back of a long ball held in the field around the sixth channel of the off-stump steps forward and hits it squarely a little too early, erroneously sending it towards the backward point fielder for an easy catch.
Atal stands there, confused by the nature of the ground, staring at the grass in disbelief. Silver duck for Noor! He sends a long ball to the stumps, tries to hit it off the back foot and plays on the wrong line, hitting the inside of the thigh in front of the stumps.
Masuku enthusiastically pleads for LBW and the referee finally raises his finger! Finally some space for Muzarabani to breathe! Akram jumps further up, tries to pick him up and misses the shot, sending a gift to the Zimbabwe ctain on the left side of midfield, who rushes forward and puts it in his pocket.
Akram is angry with himself and hits his pad with his bat as he trudges back to the dugout. The back of a long ball held in the field around the sixth channel of the off-stump steps forward and hits it squarely a little too early, erroneously sending it towards the backward point fielder for an easy catch. Atal stands there, confused by the nature of the ground, staring at the grass in disbelief.
Silver duck for Noor! He sends a long ball to the stumps, tries to hit it off the back foot and plays on the wrong line, hitting the inside of the thigh in front of the stumps. Masuku enthusiastically pleads for LBW and the referee finally raises his finger!
The Afghanistan spinner’s first T20I win of 5-0 sealed his team’s dominant win by seven wickets from 71 deliveries. Noor Ahmad secured a 5-0 win as Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 79, Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, 3rd T20I, Sharjah, November 1, 2026. The Afghan spinner’s first T20I win sealed his team’s dominant win with seven wickets off 71 deliveries Noor Ahmad picked up a five-wicket haul as Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 79, Afghanistan against Zimbabwe 3rd T20I, Sharjah, November 1, 2026 AFG vs ZIM 2026/27, AFG vs ZIM 3rd T20I Match Report, November 1, 2026 – Noor five for Afghanistan’s 3-0 series win in Sharjah AFG vs ZIM Match Report 2026/27, Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe: Afghanistan’s first The spinner’s T20I five-for sealed his team’s dominant win by seven wickets from 71 deliveries. Afghanistan’s spinner’s first T20I five-for sealed his team’s dominant win by seven wickets from 71 deliveries
![[WATCH] Rashid Khan blows a flying kiss to Ryan Burl after heated exchange in 3rd T20I](https://cricknation.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1793598266277_Ryan-Burl-and-Rashid-Khan--300x188.jpeg)
