Afghanistan team defeated South Africa team for the first time in a limited overs format match.
For the Afghanistan team, the year 2024 can be considered the best year in their international cricket journey so far. While the team had reached the semi-finals in this year’s T20 World Cup, now they have succeeded in defeating the South African team in the limited overs format for the first time. In the first match of the three-match ODI series played between the two teams at the Sharjah ground, Afghanistan got a target of 107 runs, which they achieved in 26 overs at the loss of 4 wickets. While Fazhlaq Farooqui played a key role with the ball in Afghanistan’s victory, Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib showed amazing performance while chasing the target and returned with victory for the team.
Omarzai took charge of one end and got the support of Gulbadin
After restricting South Africa to 106 runs in the first match of this ODI series, Afghanistan team chasing the target did not have a good start in which they lost their first wicket in the form of Rahmanullah Gurbaz on a score of zero. After this, on the score of 15, the Afghan team got the second blow in the form of Rahmat Shah who returned to the pavilion on a personal score of 8 after facing 26 balls. From here, a partnership of 23 runs in 34 balls was seen for the third wicket between Afghanistan team captain Hasmatullah Shahidi and Riaz Hasan. At the same time, when the Afghan team got the third blow in this match in the form of Riaz Hasan on a score of 38, Azmatullah Omarzai, who came to bat after that, played cautiously from one end and shared a partnership of 22 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Shahidi.
Shahidi returned to the pavilion after scoring 16 runs in this match. With the fourth wicket falling at the score of 60, Omarzai was joined by Gulbadin Naib and both of them batted aggressively and helped Afghanistan to get a historic victory. While Omarzai played an unbeaten innings of 25 runs with the help of 2 sixes in 36 balls, Gulbadin Naib played an unbeaten innings of 34 runs with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes in 27 balls. In bowling for Africa, Bjorn Fortuin took 2 wickets while Aiden Markram and Lungi Ngidi took 1 wicket each.
African batsmen showed shameful performance
The biggest reason for the defeat of the South African team in the first ODI match of this series played at Sharjah ground is the very shameful performance of their batsmen. The African team lost 7 wickets in the powerplay of the first 10 overs of this match, from where it became impossible for them to make a comeback in the match. Vian Mulder definitely saved the team from being reduced to a shameful score by playing an innings of 52 runs. For Afghanistan, Fazalaq took 4 wickets with the ball while Allah Ghazanfar took 3 wickets. Now the second match of this ODI series between the two teams will be played on the Sharjah ground on 20 September.
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