Mohammad Shahzad makes history for Afghanistan against Zimbabwe

Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad hit the fourth highest score in Twenty20 international history in his side's easy win over Zimbabwe.

Opener Shahzad carried his bat in Sharjah, hitting 10 fours and eight sixes in a 67-ball innings of 118, helping Afghanistan set a mammoth target of 216 for victory that Zimbabwe fell 81 runs short of achieving.

The 27-year-old, who is the first Afghanistan player to reach three figures in a T20, reached his hundred off 52 balls as he continued his fine run of form against Zimbabwe.

Shahzad, who hit 131 not out in one of the recent 50-over matches between the nations, narrowly missed out on catching Faf du Plessis for third place on the all-time list.

Du Plessis scored 119 against the West Indies last year, some way off all-time leader Aaron Finch's explosive innings of 156 against England in 2013 and Brendon McCullum's stunning 123 for New Zealand against Bangladesh in 2012.

Shahzad did not rest on his laurels in the field either, with the wicketkeeper producing stumpings to remove Richmond Mutumbami (one) and Sikandar Raza (one), and then helping to run out Elton Chigumbura for a duck as Zimbabwe's batting capitulated.

Spinner Amir Hamza claimed two wickets, one of them from a Shahzad stumping, as Zimbabwe slumped to 36-5 in the first seven overs of their run-chase.

There was some resistance from sixth-wicket pairing Hamilton Masakadza (63) and Peter Moor (35) in a 77-run stand which ended when Moor was dismissed by Dawlat Zadran.

Five balls later Masakadza departed, bowled by Rashid Khan after a 44-ball knock that included a couple of fours and five sixes, and the remainder of the Zimbabwe order folded as they were dismissed for 134.