Captain Asghar Afghan scored his maiden Test ton as a dominant Afghanistan reached 307/3 on Day 1 of their second Test against Zimbabwe on Wednesday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Afghanis only the second Afghanistan player to score a century in Test cricket after Rahmat Shah.
Afghanistan lost their first two wickets in the first 15 overs of the day but Ibrahim Zadran (72) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (86 batting) saw them through to the end of the first session. The pair ended up putting 65 runs for the third wicket and the partnership was broken when Zadran edged Ryan Burl to first slip.
Afghan then came and took on the Zimbabwe bowlers. He ended up reaching his century in 121 balls, hitting 12 fours and two sixes. At stumps, Afghan was on 106 off 135 balls and his partnership with Shahidi for the fourth wicket was worth 186 runs. Afghanistan is looking to draw the two-match series after Zimbabwe won the first Test by 10 wickets.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 307/3 (Asghar Afghan 106 batting, Hashmatullah Shahidi 86 batting, Ibrahim Zadran 72; Ryan Burl 1/34) vs Zimbabwe