17-year-old Allah Ghazanfar and left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi ran through the South Africa batting attack on Wednesday, September 18. The fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi and the spinner Allah Ghazanfar first bowled out SA for their 4th lowest ODI total and then held their nerve to clinch a historic ODI win in Sharjah.
Hashmatullah Shahidi-led Afghanistan created history on Wednesday, September 18 by clinching the team’s first-ever ODI win against South Africa. Playing at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Afghanistan hammered South Africa by 6 wickets, chasing the target of 107 runs in 26 overs. 17-year-old spinner Allah Ghazanfar and left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi led the charge for the Afghan Atalans, helping the hosts restrict Proteas to just 106 runs – their joint lowest total in the history of ODI cricket.
Pitch and Toss
Pitch Report: The boundary is 70 yards all around. Looks a flat surface. Touch on the slower side it seems. The spinners might play a massive role. LBW and bowled might be the common mode of dismissals. Need to bring the stumps into play.
Toss : South African stand in skipper for Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to bat with many players rested from their squad giving chance to players like Tristan Stubbs and Jason Smith making his debut in the ODI white ball cricket. Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi who also wanted to bat first went in with four spinners having being sent in to bowl first.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Allah Ghazanfar wrecks havoc to reduce South Africa to 36 for 7 in 10 overs.
Afghanistan’s opening bowlers, Fazalhaq Farooqi and AM Ghazanfar, stunned South Africa in the powerplay and reduced them to their worst start in ODIs: 36 for 7 after ten overs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi, whose first 11 deliveries cost 14 runs, decided to change his angle from over to around the wicket and it worked a charm. The final ball of his second over was well wide of Reeza Hendricks, but the South African opener reached for it anyway and played on. At the end of Farooqi’s next over, Aiden Markram, who was standing in as captain in place of an ill Temba Bavuma, went exactly the same way. In his next over, Farooqi picked up his third wicket when Tony de Zorzi top-edged a pull to Shahidi at midwicket.
At the other end, Ghazanfar, playing in just his third ODI, had to wait a little longer – until the first ball of his fourth over – for success. Tristan Stubbs, his own ODI career only two ODI matches old, tried to push Ghazanfar to mid-off but edged to slip instead. Five balls later, Jason Smith was beaten by turn as he tried to defend and was bowled.
South Africa’s difficulties reading Ghazanfar continued when Kyle Verreynne did not anticipate the turn back into him and was hit on the pad. He reviewed the on-field umpire’s out decision, but it was upheld on umpire’s call. Andile Phehlukwayo saw off four Ghazanfar balls, and survived an lbw appeal, but then wandered out of his crease while the ball was still alive and was run out by a game-aware Gulbadin Naib. And that is how South Africa slipped to 36 for 7.
Fazalhaq Farooqi kickstarted the slide by getting rid of Reeza Hendricks very early before knocking off Aiden Markram in his following over. Tony de Zorzi then got a top edge in his attempt to pull Farooqi before young offspinner Allah Ghazanfar stunned the South Africans with a double wicket maiden that saw Tristan Stubbs and debutant Jason Smith depart for five-ball ducks. 29/5 soon became 36/7 and South Africa were in serious trouble of getting bowled out for their lowest ODI score ever before Mulder and Bjorn Fortuin arrested the slide.
Wiaan Mulder’s and Bjorn Fortuin late charge carries South Africa to 106 all out
Fortuin started the counterattack with two boundaries off Rashid Khan’s third over as South Africa limped towards 50. They got there in the 16th over. Then it was over to Mulder, who was the most assured player of spin in his side, albeit the bar was not particularly high.
Mulder hit the only six of the innings off Rashid over long-off, brought up South Africa’s hundred with a pull over midwicket and his half-century off 80 balls. When he became Fazalhaq Farooqi’s fourth – and final – victim, in the 33rd over, South Africa’s innings was all but over. They were bowled out inside 34 overs with plenty of questions over their approach.
The two players managed to put up a brave fight before Rashid Khan opened his column with the wicket of Fortuin. From thereon, it was all Mulder as he struck some lusty blows to bring up his fifty and guide South Africa to a three-figure score. Wiaan Mulder and Bjorn Fortuin joined hands to get the team out of trouble, but the latter was soon dismissed by Rashid Khan in a wicket-maiden over.
Nonetheless, Mulder led the fightback and Nandre Burger held the fort from the other end. Mulder saved his side from major embarrassment as he looked comfortable at the crease and notched up his maiden ODI fifty in 80 deliveries.
However, his fine knock was brought to an end by Fazalhaq Farooqi, who bowled him. Rashid Khan picked up Lungi Ngidi’s wicket to end South Africa’s innings at 106. Fazalhaq Farooqi, who picked four wickets in the match, also achieved the 100 international wickets milestone in his 75th innings for Afghanistan.
Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib guides Afghanistan to victory with 6 wickets in hand.
Chasing 107 wasn’t going to be very straightforward though as Afghanistan realised in the very first over. A thick outside edge saw Rahmanullah Gurbaz find the third man to fall for a three-ball duck and Fortuin then got into the attack to remove Rahmat Shah. Afghanistan were very watchful in their approach with no run rate pressure. However, South Africa kept them on their toes with some disciplined bowling. Fortuin struck again to dismiss Riaz Hassan before Markram trapped Hashmatullah Shahidi leg-before-wicket.
With 47 still needed, the finish could have turned very tricky with one more wicket. However, Omarzai released the pressure with his second six of the innings before Gulbadin took charge. After getting his eye in, Gulbadin smashed successive sixes off Nandre Burger to put Afghanistan on course again before targeting Andile Phehlukwayo to race to an unbeaten 34 and get the job done on what was a historic evening for his side.
They will also want to consider the composition of their attack, which included only one specialist spinner in Fortuin, to Afghanistan’s three. Still, they seamers made early incisions. Lungi Ngidi had Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at deep third off the third ball of the innings to put Afghanistan in early trouble.
Ngidi and Nandre Burger kept Afghanistan quiet for most of the first seven overs – and Ngidi thought he had Rahmat snaffled down the leg side and reviewed but replays showed the ball hit his pad – and the pressure told. When Fortuin was introduced in the eight over, Rahmat missed a sweep off a full, flighted ball and was out lbw.
Afghanistan’s first boundary came after that when Riaz Hasan pulled a Burger short ball over backward square leg. Burger was given the same treatment on the other side of the powerplay by Shahidi and Afghanistan were gaining momentum. Mulder could have broken it when Riaz, on 11, flicked him to Tony de Zorzi at midwicket but despite a decent jump, de Zorzi could not hold on.
The drop only cost South Africa five runs as Riaz missed a Fortuin arm ball and was bowled in the next over. Fortuin’s follow-up was five wides and he was then replaced by Markram, who Azmatullah Omarzai hit over mid-on for Afghanistan’s first six. Markram kept himself on and could have had Shahidi caught at slip in his next over but Hendricks was surprised by the chance. Shahidi was out lbw three balls later and then South Africa opted for spin from both ends.
Azmatullah enjoyed the flight and hit Markram for six more down the ground. Markram then took himself off and brought Burger back but he was dispatched for back-to-back sixes by Naib. He finished things off with 13 runs off Phehlukwayo’s second over to joyous scenes from the Afghanistan dressing room and the small Sharjah crowd.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Aiden Markram the loosing skipper said : We were a few runs short. Some good honest reflections can take place tonight and tomorrow and we can come up with better plans on Friday. They made it tough for us but I still believe we are a better batting unit. We need solid gameplans and put pressure back on them.
We couldn’t put them under pressure. Honest learnings. We will look to bounce back. Gameplans and approaches would be different for each player but as long as it toes the team’s line we will be fine.
Hashmatullah Shahidi the winning skipper said : We are committed to this series. We are prepared
Fazalhaq Farooqi was Player of the Match for his 4 wickets
A maiden win for Afghanistan over South Africa and this is their third-biggest win in terms of balls to spare against a Test-playing nation. The Jonathan Trott-coached outfit continues to take giant strides in white-ball cricket, and this is a win that was purely set up by their bowlers.
With regular opener Ibrahim Zadran missing due to injury and Gurbaz out early, Afghanistan faced a few early jitters, with the top order taking a lot of time to just get in. But once Shahidi and Omarzai walked in, Afghanistan started to breathe easier. Omarzai stayed unbeaten and in company of Naib, Afghanistan’s everywhere-man, they created history. South Africa fought hard but a few missed chances did not help, and then their opponents never let them in.
Often with the lesser-ranked sides, their batting caves in under pressure. But their bowling performance ensured that there was very little scope for the Afghan batters to have an off day. Afghanistan had never lost chasing a total under 129; South Africa had never won defending a similar score – Omarzai and Naib ensured that stat remained unchanged. They completed the job that Farooqi and Ghazanfar started in the first hour of the teams’ first bilateral series.
Farooqi and Ghazanfar rocked the SA unit and stirred the hornet’s nest. And the rest was SA trying to chase some respectability. Mulder stood up and got them beyond 100. But 106 as a target was never going to be enough. Afghanistan started slowly in the chase and were jolted early. But Shahidi and Omarzai stopped the rot. And then Gulbadin and Omarzai finished it up. SA would be disappointed but they were undone by the conditions despite winning the toss and the X factor in the form of Ghazanfar.
They would hope to shrug this off as an aberration in the rest of the games. But Afghanistan will have a shot in their arm with this win and it sets up a fantastic series with two more ODIs left. With this win – Afghanistan have now beaten every full-member team in international cricket except India.
It was a perfect revenge for the Afghan side, who were bowled out for just 56 runs in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 by the Aiden Markram-led South African side. Afghanistan were put in trouble themselves, losing 2 wickets for just 15 runs in the second half of the game. As the SA pacers breathed fire, the hosts found stability in Azmatullah Omarzai (25* off 36) and Gulbadin Naib (34* off 27), who added an unbeaten 47 runs between themselves to secure a famous win.