Zimbabwe will lock horns with Afghanistan in the second ODI at the Harare Sports Club on June 6. Both teams will be heading into this contest on the back of contrasting results in the series-opener. The Afghans handed Zimbabwe a huge 60-run thrashing to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. After posting a big total of 276/5 batting first, the Afghanistan bowlers did the job by chipping in with wickets at regular intervals and completely nullified the hosts’ chances of staging a comeback through small partnerships.

Zimbabwe on the other hand had a day to forget with the ball despite taking two early wickets of openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz after which the duo of Rahmat Shah and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi staged a counter-attack with a match-winning 179-run third-wicket stand and the bowlers could never rediscover their rhythm from there on. All-rounder Sikandar Raza was the lone half-centurion for the hosts, scoring 67 with opener Innocent Kaia and captain Craig Ervine playing supporting knocks of 39 and 30 respectively, but their efforts were just not enough in the end.

Match Details
Venue: Harare Sports Club, Harare.

Date and Time: June 6, 2022, at 12:45 PM IST

Live Streaming: FanCode

Pitch Report
The Harare wicket will be a balanced one for both the batters and bowlers. The batters can go on to play impactful knocks once they get set, a run-fest can be expected here. However, since this is a used pitch, it might turn out to be a huge advantage to the spinners as the contest progresses. Therefore, the captain winning the toss here will have no hesitation in batting first.

Probable Playing XIs for Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan
Zimbabwe
Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Dion Myers, Regis Chakabva (wk), Craig Ervine (c), Wessley Madhevere, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Ainsley Ndlovu, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe.

Afghanistan
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Riaz Hassan, Rahma.