Tashinga Musekiwa struck 11 runs off the final over on Wednesday to give Zimbabwe their second-ever victory against Afghanistan in a T20 international.
After hitting 10 runs off five balls, including a four, to tie the scores in the first of a three-match series, he claimed one run from the final ball bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai for a dramatic win.
Batting at No 7, Musekiwa (16) lifted Zimbabwe to 145-6 off 20 overs, and a four-wicket triumph, after Afghanistan won the toss and posted 144-6 at Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe win a last-ball thriller to take a 1-0 lead in the series ⚡#ZIMvAFG #VisitZimbabwe 📝 https://t.co/EjMJE3pB5B pic.twitter.com/DyCYkTNKPb
— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) December 11, 2024
"It is always nice to contribute to a win. Credit to Musekiwa at the end," said top Zimbabwe scorer and player-of-the-match Brian Bennett, who made 49.
"It was nice to bat with Dion (Myers). We were thinking if we could keep up with the run rate we had a good chance of success."
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said: "We wanted to get a good total on the board, but finished about 20 runs short of where we would have liked to be.
"We gave away so many wickets early on and in Twenty20 matches it is difficult to fight back. We could also have bowled better."
The rare T20 triumph for Zimbabwe over Afghanistan came five years ago after their only other victory – in Bangladesh port city Chittagong.
In a seesaw opening match of eight in an all-format tour, Afghanistan recovered from losing five wickets for 58 runs to post a defendable total.
Karim Janat, who finished unbeaten on 54 for his fourth T20 half-century, and 39-year-old Mohammad Nabi, who contributed 44, turned the tide, adding 79 runs for the sixth wicket.
In reply, a 75-run second-wicket partnership between opener Bennett and Myers (32) took Zimbabwe to 86-2.
Wickets then fell regularly, including captain Sikandar Raza for just nine, as the home side inched toward the target.
Khan took the wickets of Bennett and Ryan Burl within four balls during the 17th over to seemingly tilt the balance toward the tourists.
But Musekiwa rose to the occasion as Zimbabwe entered the final over needing 11 runs for victory after losing 2-1 to Pakistan in Bulawayo this month in another T20 series.
Here is the moment ! We have new hero in town “Tash” Musekiwa, 🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼! Congratulations lets win this series kune ma US$6500 arikupihwa na President 🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼#Chevrons🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼 pic.twitter.com/YnS87kiAbt
— Freddy Michael Masarirevu (@freddyMM93) December 11, 2024
Zimbabwean Richard Ngarava and Afghan Naveen-ul-Haq were the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets each.
The teams meet again on Friday and Saturday, followed by a three-match one-day international series and two tests.