After almost 100 years when the English pair of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, the Afghanistan duo of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi replicated the rare feat of a wicketless day in Test cricket as they batted through the day in Bulawayo against Zimbabwe on Saturday, December 28. This was the 25th occasion of it happening, the 21st by the two batters from the same time and the first since 2019 as Afghanistan inched closer to Zimbabwe's first-innings mountain of 586.
The Boxing Day Test is increasingly heading towards a draw. After Zimbabwe, the visitors had their share of fun on a placid Queen Sports Club track and both Shah and Shahidi made full use of the flatness of the track to mix caution and aggression. Afghanistan scored 330 runs on the day as the duo broke a slew of records.
The unbeaten stand of 361 is Afghanistan's highest now for any wicket in their short Test cricket history overtaking the 307-run stand between Shahidi and Asghar Afghan three years ago against the same opposition in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, Rahmat Shah broke his partner's three-year-old record of having the highest individual score for his country in Tests. Shah's unbeaten on 231 at this point and could add a few more as Afghanistan look to overhaul the deficit of 161 runs.
Highest individual score for Afghanistan in Tests
231* - Rahmat Shah (vs ZIM) - Bulawayo, 2024
200* - Hashmatullah Shahidi (vs ZIM) - Abu Dhabi, 2021
164 - Asghar Afghan (vs ZIM) - Abu Dhabi, 2021
141* - Hashmatullah Shahidi (vs ZIM) - Bulawayo, 2024
114 - Ibrahim Zadran (vs SL) - Colombo (SSC), 2024
102 - Rahmat Shah (vs BAN) - Chattogram, 2019
It was a long, hard day of toil for Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu and Co as the bowlers got nothing off the pitch and Zimbabwe will be disappointed with their effort. They are still ahead and would hope to get a few early wickets on the fourth morning to stage some sort of a comeback as Afghanistan look primed to take the first-innings lead.
