Rahmanullah, Atal and Rahmat blunt Zimbabwe on third day

The third day's play in Sharjah might not have lived up to its reputation of being a moving day, but the six wickets that Zimbabwe were able to get across the afternoon and evening sessions, courtesy Graeme Cremer and Newman Nyamhuri, were enough to put Zimbabwe in control of the first Test again Afghanistan.

Despite valiant centuries from debutant Rahmanullah and Sediqullah Atal, and a gritty 94 not out from their captain Rahmat Shah, Afghanistan were still 102 runs short of Zimbabwe's massive first-innings score of 504 with only three wickets in hand.

It seemed as if it would be a long day in the field for Zimbabwe on Saturday as Rahmanullah and Atal recorded the highest second-wicket partnership for Afghanistan in Tests, stretching their overnight stand of 99 runs to 206. This was also only the fourth time that a partnership of more than 200 was recorded by an Afghanistan pair in the format.

With not much to extract from the pitch, and the ball continuing to get old and soft, Rahmanullah and Atal decided to make the most of the benign conditions. The latter pulled Blessing Muzarabani for a boundary in the second over of the day, and later, Rahmanullah welcomed Antum Naqvi with a monstrous slog sweep out of the ground. That resulted in a brief halt in play as the staff of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium retrieved the ball from the road beside the ground.

The two negotiated both pace and spin with command. They rotated the strike with ease, and smashed boundaries whenever they were served anything loose. Twenty-three-year-old Rahmanullah was especially impressive on his international debut as he played all around the dial with great fluency. He drove through the covers, and accessed the leg side by sweeping the ball with great control.

The sturdy stand pushed the Zimbabwe bowlers towards desperation as they resorted to unorthodox methods in search of a breakthrough. Muzarabani went both over and around the wicket to both the batters to create unusual angles, while Nyamhuri even released the ball from way behind the stumps to try and unsettle the pair.

Luck, meanwhile, continued to shine on Atal, who was dropped for the fourth time in the innings when he chipped one back to Cremer, who extended his right hand in the follow-through but couldn't grab the ball. It was, to be fair, a tough chance, but Zimbabwe needed such opportunities to go their way.

Both Rahmanullah and Atal brought up their centuries with boundaries in the space of three balls towards the end of the morning session. Rahmanullah moved to 102 when he dispatched Muzarabani's full-length delivery sliding into his pads for four to midwicket with a perfectly-timed whip. That shot not only made him only the second Afghanistan batter to score a century on debut but also helped him move past the previous highest score on debut from an Afghanistan batter in the format.

Zimbabwe eventually got both batters out with a lapse in concentration after lunch. Atal was the first to walk back as he prodded at a short and wide delivery from Cremer without much foot movement to be caught behind. Later, Rahmanullah was run out with a direct hit from Wessly Madhevere as he tapped down to mid-on and sprinted to the non-striker's end.

Shah, who came out to bat after Atal was dismissed, started positively. He hit a crunching drive through the covers off Naqvi and a blazing four down the ground off Cremer. But Rahmat had to curb his instincts after Rahmanullah's wicket. He, however, played remarkably until stumps. Rahmat held his end despite mayhem at the other end, which saw him running out of partners following the introduction of Nyamhuri after Zimbabwe took the second new ball.

Nyamhuri bowled an excellent spell of five overs throughout the second half of the afternoon session in which he picked up two wickets for eight runs. The first of those came right after Bennett introduced him into the attack as he forced the experienced Hashmatullah Shahidi into a prod to gully off a length ball which shaped away fractionally from the left-hand batter. Shahidullah then tickled one to the wicketkeeper down his legs in the next over as Afghanistan slipped to 275 for 5.

Nyamhuri bowled brilliantly with the new ball, hitting impeccable lines and lengths. He challenged the outside edge of both the right- and left-hand batters, and almost had the prized wicket of Rahmat with one that angled away from length drawing the batter onto the front foot. The ball took the leading edge to Brendon Taylor in slips, who initially claimed a catch as the ball died on him but was deemed to have been grounded by the third umpire on review.

Zimbabwe almost had Ikram Alikhil stumped after tea, only for Tafadzwa Tsiga to miss the chance. A beautiful offbreak delivery from Madhevere, which drifted and turned sharply after landing on length on off stump, had the batter beaten all ends up after he advanced down the pitch. But the bounce that the spinner was able to generate seemed to have surprised the wicketkeeper.

That reprieve allowed Rahmat to stitch a crucial 65-run stand for the sixth wicket, and though Alikhil looked nervous at times, he settled in as his innings progressed. He smashed five fours in his 83-ball 40, but when he looked for his sixth boundary, he handed a simple catch to Ben Curran at cover off Cremer. Alikhil had lost control of the shot while rocking back to another short and wide delivery from the legspinner.

An entertaining 55-run stand between Qais Ahmad and Rahmat ensued. With Qais growing in confidence and starting to find boundaries - he hit five of them in his 27 off 39 balls - Rahmat looked comfortable in trusting his partner. But a late burst from Nyamhuri accounted for Qais as he edged a fullish delivery angled across to the wicketkeeper.

It left Rahmat staring on the pitch in despair from the non-striker's end. He would hope that one of the remaining tailenders sticks around for longer when play resumes on Sunday.