Zimbabwe skipper Ervine lauds Afghanistan following defeat in second Test, says they played much better

Bulawayo [Zimbabwe], January 6 (ANI): Following defeat in the second Test match of the series in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine heaped praise on Afghanistan and said that they played better than the hosts.
With this victory, the visitors have sealed the two-match series 1-0. Rahmat Shah was awarded the "Player of the Series" award for his batting performance which included a double hundred in the first Test.
Speaking after the match, Ervine said that Zimbabwe could have pushed in the first inning and taken a lead. He added that they could have done better.
"There were definitely times in the game we could have capitalized properly, but we could not. We could have pushed that (first-innings lead) further. Certain areas we could have done better, Afghanistan played much better (than us in this game). Going back to the first innings, getting them out for 150-odd, that was our opportunity to get above 300-350 and grow that lead," Ervine was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
The Zimbabwe captain skipper showered praise on Rahmat Shah and Ismat Alam for helping Afghanistan getting back in the game.
"Lot of credit needs to go to Rahmat and Ismat and brought the team back, and then Rashid with a seven-for, that was outstanding. Really promising signs (for us). Really good that we are playing a lot of cricket, hopefully that continues. Lots of positives to take for a lot of guys. It has not been easy, only having two days between the tests has been hard, but really proud of the way they stuck (to their task). Franchise cricket (for the next few weeks), and after that, maybe they come back and go into camp a week before (the next series)," he added.
Chasing a total of 277 runs, the hosts were bowled out for 205. The highest scorer in the side was their skipper Craig Ervine who slammed 53 runs which was laced with four boundaries and a maximum.
Sikandar Raza (38 runs off 83 balls, 2 fours), Ben Curran (38 runs from 53 balls, 5 fours), Takudzwanshe Kaitano (21 runs in 56 balls, 2 fours and 1 six), Sean Williams (16 runs off 25 balls, 2 fours) and Joylord Gumbie (15 runs from 45 balls, 2 fours) played notable for their side but it went in vain as their team end up on a losing side.
For the Afghanistan side, the pick of the bowler was Rashid Khan who grabbed seven wickets in his spell of 27.3 overs where he conceded 66 runs. Two wickets were snapped by left-arm spinner Zia-Ur-Rehman in his 15 overs where he gave away 44 runs.
Earlier in the third innings, Afghanistan scored 363 with the help of knocks from Rahmat Shah (139 runs in 275 balls, 14 fours) and Ismat Alam (101 runs off 181 balls, 9 fours).
For Zimbabwe, six wickets were bagged by right-arm seamer Blessing Muzarabani in his spell of 29 overs where he conceded 95 runs. Three wickets were taken by Richard Ngarava and one wicket was taken by Sikandar Raza. (ANI)