Zimbabwe, which won the first Test with ten wikis, has announced an unchanged XI
Afghanistan he won the toss and chose to bat vs. Zimbabwe
Afghanistan welcomed footballer Rashid Khan to their Test XI, after recovering from a finger injury sustained through the PSL, in a square attempt against Zimbabwe. Khan is one of five amendments to Afghanistan XI, which includes two debaters.
Allrounder Shahidullah Kamal, a former under-19 player and not caught in any form internationally, was brought into left arm and bat spinning in the middle order, while left-arm sailor Sayed Shirzad, who has played two ODIs and four T20Is, replaces Yamin Ahmadzai. Afghanistan have also added some experience to the bat with Javed Ahmadi replacing Abdul Malik, who was paired in the first Test, Zimbabwe won within two days, and Nasir Jamal, who introduced to the middle order instead of Munir Ahmed. The wrist pair Abdul Wasi and Zahir Khan were relegated from the XI who did duty in the first Test.
Shirzad is the only specialist sailor in the XI after Afghanistan chose to be upset again, on an surface that is not expected to provide as much support to the pups as the first Test strip did. There was much less grass on it than last week. That could mean a slightly easier time for the Afghan lineman, who was blown up by Zimbabwe quotas, who shared 16 wikis between them in the first Test.
Zimbabwe were unchanged from the team that beat Afghanistan by ten wickets in the first game, with three quotas and no special spinner but a number of options in total: Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Sean Williams and Wesley Madhevere to go in with a little over.
Zimbabwe is running for the first test series award since 2004.
Afghanistan: 1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Javed Ahmadi, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 5 Nasir Jamal, 6 Afsar Zazai (wk) 7 Afghan Asghar (capt), 8 Shahidullah Kamal, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Amir Hamza, 11 Sayed Shirzad
Zimbabwe: 1 Prince Masvaure, 2 Kevin Kasuza, 3 Tarisai Musakanda, 4 Sean Williams (capt), 5 Wesley Madhevere, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Regis Chakabva (wk), 9 Donald Tiripano, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Victor Nyauchi
Firdose Moonda is an ESPNcricinfo journalist in South Africa