Afghanistan secured their most high-profile bilateral series win and their first win against a team ranked in the ICC‘s top five with a 177-run victory against South Africa.
After defeating South Africa in the first ODI by securing a 6-wicket victory two days ago, Afghanistan secured a dominating victory on Friday and posted a 300+ total. With this victory, Afghanistan leads the series 2-0 with one match remaining.
Rashid Khan turned 26 and took his fifth five-wicket haul in the match. The celebrations began with Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s seventh ODI century, followed by Rahmat Shah’s 29th ODI half-century and Omarzai’s fastest fifty in the format.
Omarzai reached his fifty in 32 balls ended with an unbeaten 86 off 50 balls and led Afghanistan’s last 93 runs in the last ten overs which helped the side to post a mammoth total.
Along with Rashid Khan, spinner Nangeyalia Kharote picked a career-best four-wicket haul for 26 runs. Batting first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan opened the innings picking a solid partnership of 88 runs.
With a dominant win in Sharjah, Afghanistan secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in their first-ever bilateral ODI series against South Africa 👏
🔗 #AFGvSA: https://t.co/NeNBxCddkY | 📸: @ACBofficials pic.twitter.com/uNKIusiO5B
— ICC (@ICC) September 21, 2024
Riaz Hassan scored 29 runs before being dismissed by Markram. After the dismissal of Hassan, Rahmat Shah joined Gurbaz and stitched a 99-run partnership who also scored an individual score of 50 runs. Meanwhile, Gurbaz scored 105 runs in 110 balls including 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Azmatullah Omarzai secured 86* runs on fifty deliveries helping the side to cross the 300-run mark against South Africa. Mohammad Nabi secured 13 runs before being dismissed by Ngidi.
With Rashid Khan’s 6* runs, Afghanistan scored 311 runs losing four wickets in 50 overs. With a target of 312 runs, Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi opened the innings where Temba Bavuma scored 38 runs on 47 deliveries. Their partnership made 73 runs for the first wicket having a solid stand.
But with the dismissal of the Bavuma, South Africa’s batting lineup collapsed. Meanwhile, Tony de Zorzi was sent out by Rashid Khan for 31 runs. Meanwhile, Reeza Hendricks scored 17 runs while Aiden Markram scored 21 runs.
But the middle order entirely collapsed with the help of Rashid Khan and Nangeyalia Kharote as they picked the wickets of Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, and Nqabayomzi Peter for single-digit scores.
Meanwhile, Nqabayomzi Peter and Lungi Ngidi scored 5 and 3 runs, dismissed by Kharote. Finally, South Africa lost all 10 wickets scoring only 134 runs, and suffered a defeat at Sharjah.
Rashid Khan was named as the Player of the Match. While speaking at the post-match conference, “Fifer after a long time had a hamstring injury as well for a month, but I wanted to stay on the ground and help the team.”
“It was a big opportunity for us to win an important series, so I wanted to contribute. I enjoy bowling with youngsters, I share my ideas with them and the best part is they listen and learn quickly. And now they have started to deliver. Great to see youngsters coming up and showcasing their talent,” said Rasid Khan.
