Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe in the second T20I at the Harare Sports Club to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Opting to bat first, Afghanistan scored 170/5, largely due to a fifth-wicket stand of 70 in 40 balls between Najibullah Zadran (57 in 46 balls) and Mohammad Nabi (43* in 22). Zimbabwe started too cautiously, lost their way in the middle overs, and eventually finished on 149/7.
The Zimbabwe chase got stuck in the Powerplay overs as Innocent Kaia (54 in 57 balls) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (30 in 22) took too long to get going. They crawled to 38/1 after six overs as Fazalhaq Farooqi (4-0-19-1) and Nijat Masood (4-0-29-1) put a stranglehold on them. They took 87 balls to reach 100, and Sikandar Raza's onslaught (41 in 21 balls) came too late. Whatever chance they had was dented in the 18th over, when Rashid Khan (4-0-32-2) got Raza and Ryan Burl in the space of three balls.
Earlier, Zimbabwe took three wickets inside the Powerplay, while Darwish Rasooli had to retire. When Karim Janat fell, Afghanistan were 88/2 in the 13th over, scoring at barely over seven an over, but Najibullah and Nabi's onslaught took them to a reasonable score.
Brief scores
Afghanistan 170/5 in 20 overs (Najibullah Zadran 57; Tendai Chatara 2-43) beat Zimbabwe 149/7 in 20 overs (Innocent Kaia 54; Rashid Khan 2-32) by 21 runs. Player of the Match: Fazalhaq Farooqi.