zimbabwe Afghanistan will face Afghanistan in the only Test of the Zimbabwe tour 2025. This article provides details about the playing 11 of Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe for the upcoming match.
Afghanistan Playing XI vs Zimbabwe- One-off Test, Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe 2025:
Openers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran
Afghans will look to start their Zimbabwe tour with a win in the one-off Test to be played at the Harare Sports Club in Harare from Monday (October 20).
The upcoming match will be the fifth encounter between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in this format of the game, with Afghanistan holding a 2-1 lead over their opponent.
The visitors would like to extend their lead by getting rid of the home team and gain momentum for the T20I series after the Test match.
They have a relatively young squad when it comes to Test cricket playing experience, as the Afghans have not played too many Test matches since gaining Test status in 2018.
Having said that, the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran have a lot of experience playing white-ball cricket and will look to put it to good use.
The Afghan batting lineup will rely heavily on the openers to get the team off to a good start as well as score runs individually.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Bahir Shah, Abdul Malik, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Shahidullah Kamal, Ismat Alam.
The opening pair will be followed by the middle order, who will have confidence in their captain Hashmatullah Shahidi to perform well and lead from the front.
Shahidi is hopeful that he will get good support from players like Bahir Shah, Abdul Malik and Shahidullah Kamal by staying on the wicket and forming important partnerships.
If Afghans are successful in scoring 340-350 runs while batting first, then the team will be successful in putting pressure on the opposition batsmen.
The onus will be on the top five batsmen to score most of the runs for the team to increase their chances of reaching the above score.
Bowlers: Zia Ur Rehman Akbar, Yameen Ahmedzai, Zia Ur Rehman Sharifi, Khalil Gurbaz
Their bowling department is where the team may struggle, considering that their most experienced bowler Rashid Khan is not part of the squad for this game.
This means that bowlers who do not have experience of playing Test cricket will have to restrict Zimbabwe to a lower score than usual.
The visiting bowling lineup includes names like Zia ur Rehman Akbar, Yamin Ahmedzai, Zia ur Rehman Sharifi and Khalil Gurbaz, all of whom have played a handful of Test matches.
The inexperience of the Afghan bowling attack may trouble them as the match progresses, as Zimbabwe’s batsmen have slightly more experience playing the longest format of the game than their opponent.
All things considered, the captain and management are hopeful that the bowlers will perform well and put up a fight against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test in Harare.
