Big day for Ahmed Shah Durrani too, as he becomes second Afghan, after Pakteen, to be a TV umpire in a Test match

The first Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe had four players making their Test debuts. There was another Test first-timer on the field, too, 44-year old Ahmed Shah Pakteen, who became the first from Afghanistan to be an on-field umpire in a Test match. Aleem Dar, the veteran official from Pakistan, was the other on-field umpire for the game.

Pakteen made his debut as an international cricket umpire in January 2017. He has previously stood in 15 ODIs and 20 T20Is. In March 2019, Pakteen had become the first Afghan to be a TV umpire during the only Test between Afghanistan and Ireland. Ten months later, in January 2020, he became the first Afghan umpire at an ICC main event when he officiated at the Men’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

While there is no Afghan representation in the 12-member elite panel of umpires (the highest category), there are four in the international panel: apart from Pakteen, there are Ahmed Shah Durrani, Bismillah Jan Shinwari and Izatullah Safi.

The ongoing Test also marked a debut in Tests for Durrani, who became the second Afghan – after Pakteen – to be a TV umpire in the longest format. Durrani made his international umpiring debut in December 2016 and has been an on-field umpire 19 times in white-ball cricket.

Pakteen’s debut now means that Ireland is the only full-member nation to not field an on-field umpire yet. Ireland have played three Tests so far, and the only official from their country has been Mark Hawthorne, who was the TV umpire in their debut Test, against Pakistan in 2018 .

The fast bowler has been sidelined since December with a stress fracture of his back

New Zealand are hopeful that fast bowler Lockie Ferguson will be able to make his return from a back injury in the T20I series against Bangladesh at the end of March.

Ferguson has been sidelined since the middle of December, when he was diagnosed with a stress fracture shortly after the T20I series against West Indies, in which he claimed a career-best 5 for 21 in Auckland. The plan put in place for Ferguson’s comeback involves a couple of club cricket outings this month before he links up with the New Zealand squad around the ODIs against Bangladesh to further assess his recovery.

“At this stage, he will meet up with the team around the time of the one-day series to put finishes touches on things and make sure the intensity is where we want it to be then if all goes well he’ll be available for the Bangladesh T20 series,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead told reporters in Wellington.

“You never know how people react to it [the injury], but in Lockie’s advantage he’s strong, he’s fit and he works very hard at that S&C [strength and conditioning] area. Hopefully all those things will have helped him in a quick recovery.”

Ferguson is one of six current New Zealand players to have IPL deals – there are seven in all including Adam Milne – while Ish Sodhi will also work with the Rajasthan Royals in an administrative role. The starting date for the tournament is yet to be confirmed, but Stead is preparing to not have all his first-choice names available for the latter matches of the season against Bangladesh.

Kane Williamson, Jimmy Neesham, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner and Kyle Jamieson are the other players heading to India in April. Mark Chapman and Hamish Bennett are part of the 13-man squad against Australia but it appears likely there will be opportunity for others – potentially including the hugely talented Finn Allen – against Bangladesh.

Toss Afghanistan chose to bat vs Zimbabwe

An Afghanistan side with three debutants opted to bat first against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi. Afghanistan went into the match with a new opening batsman Abdul Malik, middle-order batsman Munir Ahmad and legspinner Abdul Wasi, who was chosen in place of the injured Rashid Khan.

Zimbabwe also had a maiden cap, the much-anticipated debut of former Under-19 vice captain Wesley Madhevere who has had impressive white-ball showings for Zimbabwe so far. The visitors opted for an XI with three seamers, including the return of two-metre tall Blessing Muzarabani, who will operate with Donald Tiripano and Victor Nyauchi with Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Ryan Burl and Madhevere to share the spin duties.

This is the first Test meeting between these two sides, Afghanistan’s fifth Test and first since late 2019, and Zimbabwe’s first Test in more than a year.

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Hashamatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan (capt), Afsar Zazai (wk), Munir Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Yamin Ahmadzai, Amit Hamza, Abdul Wasi

Zimbabwe: Kevin Kasuza, Prince Masvaure, Sean Williams (capt), Wesley Madhevere, Tarisai Musakanda, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva (wk), Donald Tiripano, Blessing Muzarabani, Victor Nyauchi