Twin Centuries From Atal and Debutant Rahmanullah Drag Afghanistan Back Into the Sharjah Test

When Afghanistan walked out on the third morning in Sharjah, the numbers told a bleak story. Zimbabwe had piled up 504. Afghanistan were 113 for one, still 391 behind, and the follow-on was looming over everything. By the time the afternoon session was underway, two young batters had rewritten the day — and, for the moment at least, the match. Sediqullah Atal and Rahmanullah, the debutant, resumed where they had left off on the second evening, and they simply did not stop. Atal, the opener, had already shown his appetite for the long haul last month in Abu Dhabi, where his maiden Test hundred — 111 off 332 balls, more than eight and a half hours at the crease — saved a Test against Bangladesh. Here he was quicker, busier, and just as hard to shift. He used his feet against the spinners, found the boundary when Zimbabwe strayed, and brought up his second Test hundred before Graeme Cremer finally found a way through, Atal caught behind by Tafadzwa Tsiga for 105 from 213 balls, with six fours and three sixes. Rahmanullah, at the other end, was playing only his first Test, and he played it like a man who had been waiting for the stage. He had already survived a nasty moment on day two, when a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer struck his helmet and brought the medics out for a concussion check. He carried on then, and he carried on now — reaching his fifty on the second evening, then his maiden Test hundred on the third morning. At the last check he was unbeaten on 110 from 185 balls, with twelve fours and a six, and still going. Together they put on 206 for the second wicket, from 363 balls — a partnership built on patience more than power, on leaving well and punishing the loose ball. At one stage both men sat on 103, twin centuries arriving almost in step, a rare sight in any Test, let alone one in which the team had started the day staring at a 391-run deficit. Zimbabwe, for their part, had done the hard work earlier. Brendan Taylor, 40 years old and batting like time had forgotten him, made 131, his seventh Test hundred. Brian Bennett, captaining Zimbabwe in a Test for the first time, added 128, his third. Their 137-run stand had carried Zimbabwe to only the seventh total of 500 or more in their Test history, and for a day and a half it looked like being enough. It may still be. Afghanistan, at 247 for two, trail by 257 runs and still need 57 more to make Zimbabwe bat again, with captain Rahmat Shah unbeaten on 22 alongside Rahmanullah. But the shape of the game has changed. What looked like a slow march towards an innings defeat is now a contest again, and Zimbabwe's bowlers — who have toiled through more than 74 overs for two wickets in this innings — know they have a fight on their hands.