By Caroline Chepkorir
Afghanistan’s cricket team have written history in the first ODI of the three-match series as they secured a win over South Africa by six wickets in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. This was Afghanistan’s first win against South Africa across any format in international cricket.
After winning the toss, South Africa chose to bat first. However, Fazalha Farooqi got rid of Reeza Hendricks at the first opportunity and then removed Aiden Markram in the following over. Following that, Jason Smith and Tristan Stubbs were bowled out for five balls by Allah Ghazanfar, who then anchored a double wicket maiden.
South Africa was shocked by Afghanistan’s opener bowlers, Fazalhaq Farooqi and AM Ghazanfar, in the power play, and they restricted them to their worst start ever in ODI, which was 36 for 7 in 10th overs.
Chasing 107 the Afghanistan Hasmatullah Shahidi was steady before the fifth wicket, and the partnership between Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin accelerated the Afghanistan home with unbeaten 47 runs. Afghanistan scored a total with 24 overs to spare.
Desperately, Wiaan Mulder smashed a half-century 52 that helped with a key knock from Bjorn Fortuin, taking South Africa to a 106 on the scoreboard.
“The team is looking forward to winning this series and is fully prepared to take on the challenges that lie ahead in the upcoming two games. They are determined to give their best effort to secure victory in this ODI series,’’ said Hasmatullah Shahidi in media reports.
“There are a lot of honest learnings to take away from this game, and they failed under pressure. Mentions that there will be defined game plans for the next match, and as long as they can execute them better, they should win it,” said the South Arican captain Aiden Markram.
The Proteas are expected to put up a different performance and give the Afghanistan team a challenge in the next encounter in the same venue, and we will see how the surface at Sharjah Cricket Stadium will be throughout the match. The second ODI will be September 20.
