- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 21 Sep 2024 08:51 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
AFG vs SA, 2nd ODI: Afghanistan men's cricket team scripted history once again as they defeated South Africa for the first time in an ODI series on Friday. They defeated the Proteas by 177 runs in Sharjah. Rashid Khan couldn't have celebrated his 26th birthday in a better way than this as Afghanistan has taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the ongoing series.
Birthday boy Rashid also was the pick among the bowlers as he registered match-winning figures of 9-1-19-5. While chasing a mammoth target of 312 runs, South Africa needed to break West Indies' record of the highest successful run-chase of 285 runs in Sharjah and that too way back in 1993. But they failed to do so and were bundled out for just 134 runs in 34.2 overs.
Gurbaz, Omarzai take charge
While batting first, the Hashmatullah Shahid-led side posted a mammoth target of 311/4. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan stitched a brilliant partnership of 88 runs for the first wicket. Although Hassan was dismissed for scoring just 29 runs, Gurbaz went on to score his seventh ODI century and thus went past Mohammed Shahzad's record of scoring the most hundreds by an Afghanistan batter.
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Rahmat Shah supported Gurbaz by scoring a half-century. Gurbaz was dismissed after scoring 105 runs, in which he had smashed 10 fours and three sixes and then Azmatullah Omarzai went all guns-blazing against the Protea bowlers. He had struck five fours and six sixes in his gritty knock of 86 runs off 50 balls.
Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger, Nqaba Peter, and Aiden Markram took one wicket each. Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fontuin went wicket-less and conceded just 39 runs in the 10 overs he bowled.
Rashid Khan wreaks havoc
The Temba Bavuma-led side had a flying start while chasing as captain Temba Bavuma and Toni de Zorzi stitched a gritty partnership of 73 runs for the first wicket in 14 overs. Omarzai then took the wicket of Bavuma for 38 runs and then the Proteas suffered a batting collapse. They could score just 61 runs in 20.1 overs and thus lost all 10 wickets.
Rashid Khan rattled their batting lineup as he dismissed batters like De Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, and Wiaan Mulder. He also became the first bowler to have taken a five-for on his birthday.
Nangeyalia Kharote also was the standout performer as he registered figures of 6.2-0-26-4. He took the wicket of Lungi Ngidi and helped the team script history.
