Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe to win tri-series, rise above England

Afghanistan defeated Zimbabwe by seven wickets in Sharjah on October 23 to win the ODI tri-series, then moved above England to seventh in the updated men’s ODI team rankings. Zimbabwe were bowled out for 169 in 43.3 overs. Afghanistan reached 170 in 34.3 overs, completing the chase in the 35th over. Ibrahim Zadran anchored the innings with an unbeaten 70 from 96 balls, while Rahmat Shah scored 43. Zadran and Shah added 82 runs for the third wicket after Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 36 in an opening stand of 68. Rashid Khan led Afghanistan’s bowling with three wickets for 41 runs. Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mohammad Nabi and Bilal Sami took two wickets each. Zadran was named player of the match, and Rashid received the player-of-the-series award after taking 11 wickets during the tournament. The rankings reported after the final placed Afghanistan seventh with 94 rating points from 31 matches, one point behind sixth-placed Sri Lanka. England fell from sixth to eighth with 93 points after losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. Afghanistan had been eighth before gaining two points; England lost two. The standings also showed Zimbabwe in 11th, Bangladesh ninth and West Indies 10th....