Afghanistan pair of Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah shared a mammoth 364-run partnership for the third wicket against Zimbabwe in the ongoing first Test at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. This is the highest third-wicket partnership in Tests against Zimbabwe. The previous record belonged to India's Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar and Dravid shared a 249-run stand in Nagpur in 2000.
This is also the second-highest partnership for any wicket against Zimbabwe. The record belongs to Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara. They put on a 438-run stand for the second wicket in Bulawayo in 2004.
Shahidi walked out to bat in the 23rd over of the innings after openers Sediqullah Atal and Abdul Malik went back to the pavillion. Rahmat also become the second Afghanistan batter to score a double century in Tests. Shahidi scored the first against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi more than three years ago.
The partnership was broken in the 123rd over of the innings by Newman Nyamhuri. He scored 234 runs from 424 balls. His knock featured 23 fours and three sixes. Meanwhile, Shahid continued to bat on Day 4 of the first Test.
Zimbabwe post their highest Test total
The mammoth knocks came in reply to Zimbabwe's colossal total of 586. Sean Williams, captain Craig Ervine and Brian Bennett scored centutries. Williams scored 154 runs from 174 balls including 10 fours and three sixes. Ervine hit 10 fours in his 176-ball 104 whereas Bennett remained unbeaten for 110 off 124 balls. Bennett hit five fours and four sixes in his unbeaten century.
Opener Ben Curran is the only other batter to contribute with a fifty-plus score in the innings. Curran scored 68 runs from 74 balls including 11 fours. Allah Ghazanfar took three wickets whereas Naveed Zadran, Zahir Khan and Zia-ur-Rahman took two wickets each. This is Zimbabwe's highest total in the format. Their previous best of 563/9 came against West Indies in Harare in 2001.