Asghar Afghan said it was a significant achievement for his country after breaking a record held by MS Dhoni by becoming the captain with the most wins in T20 internationals. Afghanistan completed a 3-0 clean-sweep in the Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series as they thrashed Zimbabwe by 47 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Victory was Afghan’s 42nd from the 52 matches in which he has led his country in the 20-over format, moving him ahead of celebrated former India captain Dhoni at the top of the list. “I only found out last night I was becoming the leading captain in T20 cricket,” Afghan said. “It is down to our team’s hard work, and it is good news for Afghanistan. We are new to cricket, so to have the No 1 T20 captain is very big news for Afghanistan people. “This [the series win over Zimbabwe] is very important for us. We were missing some players like Mujeeb [Ur Rahman] and Gulbadin [Naib] because of corona and visa problems. “Hopefully they can rejoin the team next time. The other guys who came in performed well and took their opportunities to show their talent.” Afghan had dual reason to celebrate, given that his younger brother Karim Janat was named player of the series after the win over Zimbabwe. Janat had thrived after being promoted in the batting order by his brother in the series, making 100 runs across the three matches, as well as taking five wickets. “This was the first time I got the opportunity to come in in the top order, that’s why I was able to have success,” Janat said. “In the past two seasons of the Shpageeza League in domestic cricket in Afghanistan I played as a top order batsman and also bowled with the new ball, so I was able to adjust.” The resounding series defeat in the T20s – with margins of defeat of 48, 45 and 47 runs – took the gloss off a tour that had started well for Zimbabwe. They won the first Test against the Afghans in Abu Dhabi within two days, but lost all four of the matches which followed. “The Test series was a fantastic effort by the guys, it was disappointing not to get over the line in that series, but I felt in the T20s we were behind the eight ball before we even begun,” Sean Williams, Zimbabwe’s captain, said. “There are some positives to take out of this tour. You take the good and the bad, and you learn from it. “We have game time [ahead of a forthcoming series against Pakistan] which is extremely important, and we will have a bigger pool of players to pick from, so there is exciting stuff coming ahead.”