Afghanistan Defeat South Africa In 1st ODI: Afghanistan has defeated South Africa in the first of three ODIs in the ongoing bilateral series between the two teams, thus taking some revenge for the loss in the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final.
The Proteas are taking on the Afghans in a three-ODI series in the UAE. The first one of these matches was played last night at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. South African Cricket Team captain Aiden Markram won the toss and decided to bat first, which proved to be the wrong decision.
Afghanistan Defeat South Africa In 1st ODI
Openers Reeza Hendricks and Tony de Zorzi looked to have gotten off to a decent start before Reeza was bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi, who was the highest wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
A couple of overs later, skipper Markram was dismissed for a two, closely followed by de Zorzi’s dismissal. As Tristan Stubbs was out for a duck in the very next over, South Africa fell to 29/4 within eight overs. In the very next over, debutant Jason Smith was dismissed as well.
At this point, the first three wickets were taken by Farooqi, who looked in mighty fine touch on the day, while the next two were taken by 18-year-old off-spinner Allah Ghazanfar, who was playing only his third international game.
Ghazanfar then took his third wicket in the form of wicketkeeper Kyle Verreyne. And with Andile Phehlukwayo getting run out on the final delivery of the 10th over, South Africa collapsed to 36/7. In the serious threat of getting all-out for their lowest ODI score ever, which is 69, which was scored against Australia in 1993, it fell upon Wiaan Mulder and Bjorn Fortuin to rescue the inning.
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The two men built a nice little partnership over the next phase of the game, scoring 19 runs in the next 13 overs before Bjorn was dismissed as well. By this point, Allah Ghazanfar had completed his quota by bowling 10 straight overs, ending his stint with the brilliant figures of 3/20.
It was Mulder who took the charge of restoring the inning. And while he lost his partner well before the team score of 100, the pace-bowling all-rounder scored a decent 50, getting the team to 105 runs before being bowled by Farooqi as well. The inning ended at 106 runs, scored in 33.3 overs.
However, Afghanistan did not get to a decent start to their innings, as in-form batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz was dismissed for a duck, while No. 3 Rahmat Shah was dismissed in the eighth over. In all this time, the Afghanistan Cricket Team had only scored 18 runs.
While Afghanistan kept losing wickets, as Riaz Ahmad was out at a team score of 38 and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi at a score of 60. Then came the fifth-wicket partnership between all-rounders Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib, who scored 25 and 36 respectfully and took their team home in just 26 overs. Fazalhaq Farooqi was named the Player of the Match for his seven-over spell of 4/35.
This win puts Afghanistan ahead in the series after the first match. Many are seeing this as Afghanistan’s revenge against South Africa for the loss in the 2024 T20 World Cup. After a historic run, the Afghans reached the semi-final of a World Cup for the first time. But their dreams were shattered as the Proteas crushed the Aisn side, dismissing them for 56 before chasing the target down within nine overs.
The next Afghanistan Vs South Africa ODI will be played in Sharjah tomorrow, on September 20.
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