Noor five-for seals 3-0 series sweep for Afghanistan in Sharjah

Ibrahim Zadran hoped that his team's chasing abilities would be put to test in the third and final T20I against Zimbabwe when he elected to bowl, but it was not to be as Noor Ahmad's maiden five-wicket haul - 5 for 13 in a spell of 3.3 overs - resulted in a commanding seven-wicket for Afghanistan.

Zadran's side overhauled a paltry target of 80 in just 49 balls to record their second-best win in terms of balls remaining in the format. The win secured Afghanistan a sweep over Zimbabwe and their 22nd T20I win in 24 matches.

This was a typical Sharjah pitch, expected to play slow as the match progressed. It supported a tinge of grass which made negotiating the faster bowlers early in the innings a difficult proposition. And while the new ball did its tricks, moving extravagantly in the air - especially when Fazalhaq Farooqi, who missed the last match, came on to bowl - the Zimbabwean top-order's questionable shot-selection allowed the Afghanistan fast bowlers an opportunity to make early inroads.

Farooqi had Innocent Kaia nick one to the wicketkeeper as he angled his last delivery of the game's first over across the batter. Azmatullah Omarzai, the hero of the last match and Player of the Series, had Brian Bennett caught at mid-off with a floated-up delivery outside off at the start of the second over. Afghanistan had picked up consecutive wickets to reduce Zimbabwe to 8 for 2.

Their captain, Sikander Raza, looked to counterattack after facing seven balls for only two runs. When debutant Abdullah Tarakhail introduced into the attack, Raza miscued a whack down the ground to mid-off, handing the 25-year-old his maiden international wicket with only his second ball.

With the powerplay approaching its end and Zimbabwe struggling for runs, Ryan Burl got into the act against Omarzai in the fifth over with back-to-back boundaries. Though the first of them had come off a leading edge, which flew past the keeper, the second was a statement shot as he slapped a length ball over mid-on for four. He dispatched Tarakhail twice towards the fence in the next over to drag his team to 37 for three by the end of the powerplay. Twenty-one of them had come from Burl's bat.

This series was played without a DRS system for the players, and there were a few controversial calls by the umpires in this match, one of them accounting for Burl's dismissal. One earlier resulted in a quarrel between Burl and Rashid Khan after an LBW shout was turned down. Burl was thumped on his front pad in the line of stumps as he missed a reverse sweep and the umpiring decision irked the legspinner.

He engaged in a heated-exchange with Burl three balls later and the two had to be separated by Ahmad Shah Pakteen, one of the two on-field umpires. The two continued to engage with each other with hostility at the completion of the over, compelling Farooq Khan, the other on-field umpire, to break them apart this time.

Ironically, in the next over, Abdollah Ahmadzai had Burl dismissed lbw on a ball which seemed to be sliding down the leg side as two-and-a-half stumps were visible at the time of impact. He made 30 off 29 in an innings in which the next best score was 10 off 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 an attempted reverse sweep against Noor Ahmad in the next over. His failure to add any runs to the total off it then forced him into a hoick down the ground, which resulted in a stumping as he was beaten by the lack of pace on the flighted wrong'un.

Noor came around-the-wicket to Tafadzwa Tsiga on the next ball and had him caught in the slips off another wrong 'un. Tadiwanashe Marumani handed him his third wicket, a ball after his hat-trick delivery - a floated-up one, which tempted Marumani to go big. The batter holed out to long-off, where Omarzai took a brilliant diving catch.

Omarzai took the last two wickets across his next two overs, the last of them ending Zimbabwe's innings in 14.3 overs for only 79 runs, their second-lowest total in the format.

Following his career-best return, Noor now averages 5.66 against Zimbabwe for his nine wickets. His previous best figures of 4 for 10 had also come against them at Harare in 2022.

Afghanistan had poor starts to the powerplay in the first two T20Is of this series. Ibrahim Zadran mentioned at the toss that the team was eager to rectify that. The paltry nature of the target allowed them to play with freedom. Mohammad Akram, promoted to open in Rahmanullah Gurbaz's absence, swung wildly at all the five balls he faced. The first three of these shots brought him boundaries, but he was caught on the last - at mid-off in the opening over.

Zimbabwe picked up a couple of wickets in the fifth over by Ernest Masuku, but by then, Sediqullah Atal's boundary-laden innings had already brought Afghanistan close to victory.

Omarzai carved Nyamhuri out of the ground with a six over deep third, as Afghanistan finished the powerplay at a comfortable 54 for 3. Zadran smoked four boundaries off Masuku, and the final rites of the chase were delivered by Omarzai. He played a hoick down the ground off Vincent Masekesa's long-hop, smashing the ball for a huge six, as Afghanistan recorded their second-biggest win in terms of balls remaining in T20Is, also sealing a 3-0 series sweep.