Written by Praise Dumi DhlakamaZimbabwe sports betting writer
Published 10 November 2026
Zimbabwe and Afghanistan played out a draw in the first Test at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday, but the result was almost incidental to a match that rewrote the Test record books in ways never seen in the format’s 149-year history.
Zimbabwe became the first team ever to score more than 500 runs in both innings of a Test match, posting 504 in their first innings and 523 for 5 in their second. Afghanistan replied with 514, meaning the match produced a combined 1,541 runs across three completed innings, with only 25 wickets falling on a surface that offered the bowlers almost nothing.
Taylor and Bennett lay the platform
Having won the toss and elected to bat, Zimbabwe built their first innings around Brendan Taylor’s 131 and captain Brian Bennett’s 128. Taylor’s innings came off 168 deliveries and included 14 fours and 4 sixes, while Bennett faced 206 balls for his 128. Their partnership formed the backbone of a total that already hinted at the run-fest to come.
Taylor was later named Player of the Match for his first-innings contribution.
Naqvi’s patient debut fifty steadies the second innings
When Bennett fell early on the final morning for 58, Zimbabwe were 175 for 4 and Afghanistan sensed an opening. What they encountered instead was a debutant in no mood to give his wicket away.
Antum Naqvi, finally cleared to represent Zimbabwe after a long wait over documentation, walked to the crease and absorbed pressure rather than imposing himself. His first boundary did not arrive until the 102nd ball he faced, and he took 110 balls to reach his maiden Test half-century.
By the time he fell for 61 off 136 deliveries, sweeping Abdul Malik to square leg, he had done precisely what his side needed: blunted Afghanistan’s attack and allowed Craig Ervine to play with freedom at the other end.
The pair added 140 runs for the fifth wicket, a stand that spanned the better part of two sessions and effectively ended Afghanistan’s hopes of forcing a result. Naqvi’s innings was not glamorous, with just 2 fours, but on a pitch offering nothing to the bowlers, its value lay in the time he consumed and the platform it gave Zimbabwe to bat Afghanistan out of the contest.
Ervine and Madhevere seal history
Ervine finished unbeaten on 206, his maiden Test double-century, reaching the landmark in his first Test appearance at the age of 41. It made him the third-oldest man to score a Test double hundred.
After Naqvi’s dismissal, Wessly Madhevere joined Ervine and the pair produced an unbroken 208-run partnership for the sixth wicket, a record for Zimbabwe in that position. Madhevere brought up his maiden Test century off 108 balls, finishing 100 not out, and the captains shook hands on a draw once he reached the milestone.
Afghanistan’s batters respond in kind
Afghanistan were not passive bystanders in the run-fest. Opener Sediqullah Atal made 105, No. 3 Rahmanullah marked his Test debut with 113, and captain Rahmat Shah top-scored with 173 at No. 4.
Rahmanullah and Atal shared a 206-run partnership for the second wicket, Afghanistan’s highest ever for that position. Later, Shah and Zia-ur-Rehman added 92 for the eighth wicket, a national record. Newman Nyamhuri was the pick of Zimbabwe’s bowlers with 5 for 82.
A draw that belongs in the record books
Zimbabwe chose not to declare on the final day, and the match meandered to its inevitable conclusion once Madhevere reached three figures. The surface yielded six centuries in total, including one double hundred, and offered the bowlers almost no assistance across five days.
The second and final Test begins on Friday, also in Sharjah. Whatever happens there, the first Test has already secured its place in cricket’s record books, and Zimbabwe, a side that has so often been on the margins of the Test game, are the ones who wrote the history.
Naqvi’s patient 61 may not feature prominently in the headline numbers, but on a day when Zimbabwe needed someone to hold the innings together alongside Ervine, the debutant delivered exactly what was asked of him.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 504 (Brendan Taylor 131, Brian Bennett 128) and 523 for 5 (Craig Ervine 206, Wessly Madhevere 100, Antum Naqvi 61) drew with Afghanistan 514 (Rahmat Shah 173, Rahmanullah 113, Sediqullah Atal 105; Newman Nyamhuri 5 for 82).
