Afghanistan men’s cricket team made history on Wednesday with a sensational six-wicket victory against South Africa in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Sharjah International Stadium here. This is Afghanistan’s first victory over South Africa and also their third-biggest win in terms of balls to spare against a Test-playing nation.
In a match with a total aggregate score of 213, the lowest match aggregate involved South Africa and Afghanistan in ODIs.
With seamer Fazalhuq Farooqi claiming 4-35, AM Ghazanfar bagging 3-20 and spinner Rashid Khan returning to white-ball cricket with a 2-30 haul, Afghanistan bundled out South Africa for a paltry 106 and then rode on an unbeaten 47-run partnership between Azmatullah Omarzai (25 not out) and Gulbadin Naib (34 not out) to reach 107/4 in 26 overs, winning the match with a massive 144 balls remaining.
It was the Afghanistan bowlers who set up the victory by rattling South Africa early with Farooqi castling opener Reeza Hendricks for nine runs. One became two for Farooqi as he induced another inside edge off a slower delivery to send back South Africa’s stand-in skipper Aiden Markram for just two off five balls.
The left-arm seamer Farooqi struck another blow, sending back opener Tony de Zorzi (11) as they slumped to 25/3 in the seventh over.
Ghazanfar claimed the wickets of Tristan Stubbs (0) and debutant Jason Smith (0) in the eighth over as South Africa slumped to 29/5. They lost two more wickets as they slumped to 36/7 within the 10th over, further exacerbating South Africa’s problems.
Wiaan Mulder (54, 84b, 4×5, 6×1) contributed a patient half-century to lift South Africa past the 100-run mark before they lost a few more quick wickets as their innings folded at 106
Chasing a modest target, Afghanistan lost seasoned batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for zero with Lungi Ngidi as the batter went after a length delivery that moved a bit.
Rahmat Shah too did not last long, trapped lbw by Bjorn Fortuin for eight and when Riaz Hassan was bowled by Fortuin for 16 (35b, 4×2), Afghanistan were down to 38/3 in the 14th over. Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi added 16 runs to the score to take the score to 60.
Azmatullah Omarzai (25 not out) and Gulbadin Naib (34 not out) added 47 runs for the unfinished fifth-wicket partnership as Afghanistan registered a memorable victory.
Brief scores:
South Africa 106 all out in 33.3 overs (Wiaan Mulder 52; Fazalhaq Farooqi 4-35, AM Ghazanfar 3-20, Rashid Khan 2-30) lost to Afghanistan 107/4 in 26 overs (Azmatullah Omarzai 25 not out, Gulbadin Naib 34 not out; Bjorn Fortuin 2-22) by six wicket.