Afghanistan began a two-match Test series against Zimbabwe at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on November 5, with Rahmat Shah captaining the Test and ODI squads in a series Afghanistan enters as clear favorites on paper, largely because of their spin-bowling depth and years of familiarity playing on Sharjah’s slow, turning surfaces. The first Test runs through November 9, with the second starting November 13 at the same venue, following a preceding three-match T20I series also played in Sharjah in late October and early November.
Sharjah as Afghanistan’s Adopted Home
Afghanistan has played the overwhelming majority of its home internationals in the UAE for more than a decade, a consequence of ongoing security conditions that have made hosting international cricket inside Afghanistan itself impractical. That history has turned Sharjah into something closer to a genuine home ground than a neutral venue, giving Afghanistan’s players, particularly its spinners, an outsized familiarity advantage over touring sides who see the surface only occasionally.
The Squad Afghanistan Picked
Afghanistan’s Test squad, announced by selectors on October 1, includes the return of fast-bowling all-rounder Ismat Alam, who had missed Afghanistan’s recent Test against India, and the comeback of experienced left-arm spinner Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, back in the Test squad after nearly a year out through injury. Restoring Zia Ur Rahman Akbar to full fitness gives Rahmat Shah an even deeper spin-bowling option to pair with Afghanistan’s frontline attack, a combination selectors clearly see as the team’s biggest weapon on a surface that typically offers turn from early in a match.
Zimbabwe’s Counter-Argument
Zimbabwe is not without its own strengths heading into the series. The side’s all-round balance, anchored by senior players including Sikandar Raza, has made Zimbabwe a competitive if unpredictable opponent in recent cycles, capable of upsetting more fancied teams when their middle order clicks. Analysts previewing the series have pointed to Raza’s experience as the clearest route for Zimbabwe to stay competitive against an Afghanistan side expected to dominate through spin, though Zimbabwe’s batters will need to show considerably more patience against turning deliveries than they have in some recent away assignments.
A First Test Series Under a New Coaching Setup
The series also comes roughly eight months into Richard Pybus’s tenure as Afghanistan’s head coach, following his appointment in February after Jonathan Trott’s departure in the wake of a disappointing group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup. Pybus, a 61-year-old with coaching stints at Pakistan, Bangladesh and the West Indies, including a role in the West Indies’ 2016 global title-winning setup, took over an Afghanistan side that had leaned heavily on white-ball cricket in recent years, making this two-Test assignment an important marker of how the team’s red-ball program is developing under his broader, all-formats remit.
Why This Series Matters Beyond the Result
Test cricket remains a relatively young and still-developing format for Afghanistan compared with the team’s white-ball success, which has included multiple T20 World Cup upsets over established Test nations. A clean series win over Zimbabwe at home-away-from-home conditions would reinforce Afghanistan’s credentials as a genuine, rounded Test nation rather than a team that primarily competes through white-ball specialists, a distinction that matters for the team’s standing and scheduling leverage within the ICC’s wider Test structure.
What’s Next
With the first Test underway and the second starting November 13, the series will offer an early look at how Afghanistan’s reshuffled bowling attack, now with Zia Ur Rahman Akbar back in the mix, performs across back-to-back five-day matches, a workload test distinct from the shorter white-ball cricket that has defined most of the team’s recent international calendar. A strong showing would also strengthen the case, already building after Afghanistan’s recent Test against India, that the team’s longer-format cricket is catching up to its white-ball reputation.
For Zimbabwe, the series is as much about accumulating experience on unfamiliar, spin-friendly surfaces as it is about the result itself. Zimbabwe Cricket has leaned on tours like this one to expose its batting unit to conditions it rarely sees domestically, reasoning that repeated exposure to quality spin bowling in Sharjah will pay dividends the next time the team travels to the subcontinent for a major assignment. Whether that long-term development logic translates into competitive performances this week remains the open question as both sides take the field for the first of two Tests.