Afghanistan proved they are no pushovers in the shortest format when they landed in the semifinals of this year’s T20 World Cup in the Americas before their spirited campaign was ended by the South Africans.
The Afghans sweetly avenged that heartbreak in the 50-over format, by recording their first ever series win against a top-five ICC-ranked side — Proteas — in the UAE recently, and in a way, have put the cricket world on notice that they are a serious force to reckon with when it comes to white-ball formats as teams gear up for the ICC Champions Trophy early next year.
Interestingly, all eyes will now be on Afghanistan’s next meeting with South Africa as the two sides find themselves in the same group alongside Australia and England in the ICC Champions Trophy.
The Blue Tigers claimed the first two matches convincingly to take the bragging rights, winning the matches by six wickets (and with 144 balls to spare) and 177 runs respectively, bowling out the Proteas for scores of 106 and 134. South Africa went on to claim a consolation win in the third match, chasing down a target of just 170.
The third-ranked South Africas are Afghanistan’s biggest catch in ODIs, with their 13 bilateral ODI series previously coming against Zimbabwe (5), Ireland (4), Scotland (2), Bangladesh and The Netherlands (one each).
For Afghanistan, the 22-year-old Rahmanullah Gurbaz emerged the chief architect of their triumph with scores of 105 and 89 in the second and third match, and ended the series as the most prolific batter even with a duck in the first match. The century, his seventh in ODIs, puts him level with Virat Kohli for equal third-most hundreds in the format scored before turning 23, and only bettered by Sachin Tendulkar and Quinton de Kock (eight apiece).
Gurbaz, who had stamped his class in Afghanistan’s fabled ICC 50-over World Cup 2023 run, has already cemented his place in the side ever since he became the fourth fastest to reach seven ODI centuries. Only the trio of Babar Azam (33), Imam-ul-Haq (36) and Hashim Amla (41) have consumed less innings to achieve that milestone.
In the bowling department, it was once again, the seasoned Rashid Khan spearheading the attack, and returning with a series high of seven wickets (at an average of 7.00) even after missing the third match with a tight hamstring.
The Afghans are ninth on the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings, with a rating of 82, fractionally behind Bangladesh (86).