Zimbabwe 145 for 6 (Bennett 49, Myers 32, Naveen 3-33, Rashid 2-26) beat Afghanistan 144 for 6 (Karim Janat 54*, Mohammad Nabi 44, Ngarava 3-28) by four wickets

Defending 144, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan’s frugal spells combined with a four-run 18th over from Mujeeb Ur Rahman brought the equation down from 60 from 42 balls to 21 off 12. But Naveen’s final over, despite being an improvement from his previous one that went for 19, went for ten, and Azmatullah Omarzai’s changes in pace and length could not defend ten in the final over.

Musekiwa slogged a slower slot ball over cow corner and almost cleared the fence first ball of the 20th. He then rushed back for three twos and with the scores tied and the field up for the last ball, drove straight of mid-off to unleash the celebrations with his partner in front of a vibrant Harare crowd.

Naveen returned for an over that didn’t exactly go as expected. The wide yorker was his default plan, and five of the first eight balls resulted in wides apart from a high full toss that Sikandar Raza flayed over short third for four. When he went full and wide again, Raza went across to lash the ball down the ground before a slower ball finally dismissed the Zimbabwe captain, whose innings lasted five legal balls.

Rashid, who wasn’t as effective in his first three overs, knocked over the well-set Bennett for 49 with a slider. He then had Ryan Burl mistime a pull to deep-backward square leg. But neither his nor Mujeeb’s stump-to-stump bowling was enough for Afghanistan to stop Zimbabwe from getting home.

The chase began with Zimbabwe under pressure because of Naveen, who started with a maiden before cramping Tadiwanashe Marumani for room on the pull.

But Naveen dropped Bennett on 8 off Azmatullah Omarzai in the fifth over. Rashid introduced himself in the final over of the powerplay but could not keep a lid on the slow start. He erred short and wide (both off and leg-side) to Myers, who picked up two fours.

The duo consolidated but a few quiet middle overs took the asking rate up to nine. They picked a boundary off Fareed Ahmad’s first two overs and Myers deposited another Rashid long-hop over long-on in the 12th. Bennett continued the charge by smashing Omarzai for two fours before Nabi’s intervention set up a rollercoaster of a finish.

Hazratullah Zazai, meanwhile, was off to a promising start carving Ngarava through point in the first over and launching Bennett over mid-on and mid-off in the third before holing out to mid-on off Blessing Muzarabani.

Nabi joined Janat with Afghanistan in trouble at 58 for 5 in the 11th over. Their start together was scratchy but was made easier by sloppy fielding from Zimbabwe. Burl’s misfield at long-off turned two into three in the 12th over before Muzarabani losing sight of the ball gave Janat the first of two boundaries in the next.

Nabi hit the gaps to get some risk-free twos before ensuring Ngarava’s return in the 16th over wasn’t economical. Two boundaries took Afghanistan over 100 with four overs to go. He began the death overs by taking down Gwandu for a six and three fours, the last of which was caused by another fielding lapse.

Janat and Nabi added 79 off 49 before Ngarava got Nabi and gave away only seven off the penultimate over. Janat, who played the anchor role, remained 54 not out off 49 balls at the end, and neither he nor Rashid could put Gwandu away for a boundary in the final over.