Can Rashid Khan and Ibrahim Zadran sink Zimbabwe again?

Atal's 102, Ibrahim Zadran's 90 and four wickets from Rashid Khan flattened Zimbabwe in the league stage, and the obvious hope is that Afghanistan get the same again in the final.

Of the two whose long records can be weighed, Rashid is the safer to bank on, because our ratings have him as the third-best T20 bowler in the world, worth almost six runs a match more than an average bowler.

Is Rashid Khan still the threat he was?

He has lost a little of his edge. Across every side he has played for in men's T20 cricket, his economy rate over the last two years is 7.76, against a career figure of 6.72.

An average bowler over the same two years has gone at 8.11 an over, though, so even the slower Rashid is harder to score off than most, and four wickets against Zimbabwe were simply Rashid being Rashid.

Can Ibrahim Zadran's league-stage runs be trusted?

Over the last two years Zadran averages 31.67 in T20s, comfortably ahead of the 23.86 for top-seven batters, so the runs themselves are no fluke.

What holds him back is the tempo, with a strike rate of 123.2 that trails what a top-seven batter manages. Our ratings place him 187th of 204 T20 batters, costing his side more than two and a half runs a match.

A long innings at that pace can carry a side past Zimbabwe. Against a sharper attack, it eats the overs Afghanistan's hitters need.

Can Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe again?

Afghanistan have won 19 of their 21 T20 meetings with Zimbabwe since 2015, and Zimbabwe's only two wins in their last ten T20s both came against Namibia.

Our ratings still make Afghanistan only around three-in-five favourites in their next meetings at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. That is a sensible discount for a side ranked ninth of ten, which lost to India by 127 runs and to Nepal in September.

Afghanistan should beat Zimbabwe again. When they do, Rashid's four overs are the part of the league-stage win most likely to repeat, and Zadran's big score is the part to doubt.