HARARE: Ibrahim Zadran scored his first ODI century and shared the highest second-wicket stand against Zimbabwe, of 195 runs with Rahmat Shah, to ensure a successful chase of 229 and a series win for Afghanistan, with a game in hand, here on Monday. This victory takes Afghanistan to 90 points from 11 matches on the World Cup Super League table and, if they sweep the series 3-nil on Thursday, will put them in second place on the points’ table and in a good position to secure automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup. Zimbabwe, on the other end of the table, remain in 12th place with only three wins from 14 matches. While the 60-run gap between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in the first match illustrated Zimbabwe’s struggles when chasing, the eight-wicket difference in this one emphasised their batting problems overall. Even when setting a total, Zimbabwe appear a quality batter or two amiss and have been unable to build big partnerships. In this match, half-centuries from Innocent Kaia and Ryan Burl bookended their innings, but they only had one partnership over 50 runs and two others that threatened, but were stymied before they could cause significant trouble for Afghanistan. Kaia and Craig Ervine put on 47 for the second wicket, after Regis Chakabva was dismissed for a second-ball duck before Kaia and Sikandar Raza posted 67 for the fourth-wicket. A middle-order collapse of 5 for 26 left Zimbabwe facing a total below 200 before Burl and Blessing Muzarabani shared 46 for the ninth wicket to push their score into competitive territory. Kaia, playing in his second ODI, scored a career-best 63 and displayed a strong range of strokes all around the ground. His proactive approach against spin and positive footwork was the hallmark of his innings, although it also turned out to be his undoing. He was well-set when he advanced down the track against left-armer Fareed Ahmed, who saw him coming and dropped it short. Kaia top-edged and Rahmanullah Gurbaz took a good catch to end his innings. That wicket caused a domino effect. Two overs later, Milton Shumba tried to play a fuller Fareed delivery off the back foot, missed and was out lbw on review and two overs after that, Raza tried to cut Mohammed Nabi over short third-man but hit the ball straight to him. Donald Tiripano played Rashid Khan onto his stumps to give the legspinner his second wicket after he removed Wessley Madhevere in his first over and Tendai Chatara was caught at extra cover as he tried to hit Nabi over the top. On 177 for 8, Zimbabwe were in trouble but an enterprising stand between Burl and Muzarabani ensured they batted through the overs and upped the ante at the end. In the end, it was not enough to trouble the Afghan line-up, who swatted away a small target with few obstacles. They raced to 17 off the first two overs before Gurbaz was given out lbw by a delivery that nipped in from Blessing Muzarabani. He reviewed but was unsuccessful. With almost no pressure from the Zimbabwean attack, Ibrahim and Rahmat were able to rotate strike freely and had the required run-rate well under control. Ibrahim brought up his hundred with a rare cover drive, off the 120th ball he faced. Rahmat could have followed, but with 18 runs to get, chased a wide delivery and nicked off, to fall for 88. Ibrahim hit the winning runs for Afghanistan, with 33 balls to spare. SCOREBOARD ZIMBABWE INNINGS Regis Chakabva lbw b Fazalhaq 0 Innocent Kaia c Gurbaz b Fareed 63 Craig Ervine lbw b Fareed 32 Wessley Madhevere lbw b Rashid 15 Sikandar Raza c Rahmat b Nabi 40 Milton Shumba lbw b Fareed 1 Ryan Burl not out 51 Donald Tiripano b Rashid 5 Tendai Chatara c Fareed b Nabi 0 Blessing Muzarabani b Fazalhaq 9 Tanaka Chivanga run out 1 EXTRAS (B 1, LB 1, W 9) 11 TOTAL (50 overs) 228 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-47, 3-84, 4-151, 5-153, 6-168) 7-176, 8-177, 9-223, 10-228 BOWLING Fazalhaq Farooqi 8-1-34-2 Mujeeb Ur Rahman 6-0-24-0 Fareed Ahmad 10-0-56-3 Azmatullah Omarzai 7-0-25-0 Mohammad Nabi 9-0-31-2 Rashid Khan 10-0-56-2 AFGHANISTAN INNINGS Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw b Muzarabani 4 Ibrahim Zadran not out 120 Rahmat Shah c Chakabva b Tiripano 88 Hashmatullah Shahidi not out 1 Did not bat: Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad EXTRAS (B 2, LB 2, W 12) 16 TOTAL (44.3 overs) 229-2 Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2.3 ov), 2-212 (Rahmat Shah, 41.3 ov) BOWLING Blessing Muzarabani 8-0-42-1 Tendai Chatara 6.3-0-36-0 Tanaka Chivanga 8-0-34-0 Ryan Burl 5-0-30-0 Sikandar Raza 6-0-25-0 Donald Tiripano 6-0-32-1 Milton Shumba 2-0-15-0 Wessley Madhevere 3-0-11-0 Umpires: Iknow Chabi, Marais Erasmus TV umpire: Langton Rusere Match referee: Andy Pycroft