Afghanistan who were considered red hot favorites before the start of ICC CT 2025, were outplayed completely in all the 3 facets of the game. The Hashmatullah Shahidi led side lost the match against South Africa by a gigantic margin of 107 runs. This defeat has dented Afghanistan’s NRR by -2.14 and from now on every game is a must win for them. Let’s explore the 3 reasons for Afghanistan’s below par performance.
(1) Questionable bowling combination
South Africa’s skipper Temba Bavuma was quite happy to bat first after winning the toss. The surface at Karachi astoundingly wasn’t a dry surface and had a tinge of grass and cracks in it. Afghanistan went in with 3 spinners: Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan & Noor Ahmad & only 2 frontline pacers: Fazallhaq Farooqi & Azmatullah Omarzai.
The greenish surface came out of syllabus for Afghanistan bowling unit. Farooqi & Omarzai couldn’t contain the batters and tried way too many variations in the power-play overs. The veteran spinner Mohammad Nabi was the only positive for Afghanistan fans who took 2 scalps & conceded 51 runs in his 10 overs.
It was quite baffling to see that Gulbadin Naib was bowling a way too many off-cutters and slower deliveries which not at all made life hard for Proteas’ batters. South Africa had notched up a mammoth 315-6. It was a collective performance from Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen & Aiden Markram who struck half centuries a magnificent ton by Ryan Rickelton deepened the agony for Afghanistan.
(2) Rahmanullah Gurbaz & Ibrahim Zadran’s lacklustre performance:
Afghanistan required one of their openers Gurbaz or Zadran to bat deep and make the most of the start which didn’t happen. Gurbaz was quite keen on dictating the terms by stepping down the track, showing a bit too much intent.
In the 4th over, Lungi Ngidi bowled a bumper delivery on the second delivery and Gurbaz wanted to pull shot even after stepping down but couldn’t time it properly and gave a catch to fine leg to Keshav Maharaj. Before he got out, Gurbaz had struck a boundary but his decision to hit back to back boundaries, he gifted his wicket to South Africa.
Ibrahim Zadran along with Sediqullah Atal steadied the ship. Ibrahim Zadran was casetled by Kagiso Rabada in the last over of powerplay overs. Afghanistani openers perhaps got a bit under too much pressure as in the history of Afghanistan’s run chase, they never had accomplished a 316 runs target with their highest being 283 against Pakistan in ICC ODI WC 2023.
(3) Lack of fight by Afghanistan batting unit
At the end of 10 overs, Afghanistan’s score was 38-2. The skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi in the 15th over, stepped down the track on bowling of Wiaan Mulder and wanted to clear mid on fielder, Temba Bavuma but he took a jumping catch and skipper was sent back. It might sound harsh, but Shahidi wanted to assert his dominance even he hadn’t scored a single run raises a lot of eye-brows. Afghanistan’s score at 14.4 overs was 50-4.
The required run rate was creeping and went past 8 and the batters’ had no option to take risks and play aggressive brand of cricket. Rahmat Shah fought a lone battle with him scoring 90 runs in 92 balls. Omarzai, Nabi & Rashid weren’t able to take the game deep. Apart from Rahmat, not a single batter scored 20 odd runs which exposed Afghanistan’s batting unit which has a lot of loopholes in it. Proteas’ bowling unit hunted in a pack and bowlers kept on hitting the hard length which irked the batting team.
Also Read:Â AFG vs SA : Ryan Rickelton’s Maiden ODI Ton & Bowlers Hand A Thrashing Defeat To Afghanistan