Calmness of Rassie van der Dussen and the fireplace of Gerald Coetzee helped skilled South Africa overcame a spirited resistance from Afghanistan to carve out a five-wicket win of their final league recreation of the World Cup in Ahmedabad on Friday. Set a goal of 245, South Africa, who’re already assured of a spot in semifinals, accomplished the duty with Van der Dussen remaining unbeaten on 76 off 95 balls. Andile Phehlukwayo was unbeaten on a 37-ball 39 after a match-winning partnership of 65 runs with Van der Dussen.
Earlier, pacer Coetzee took 4 wickets as Afghanistan have been restricted to 244 regardless of Azmatullah Omarzai’s spectacular 97. Omarzai’s knock, nonetheless, helped the Afghans to get well from 116 for six. The defeat however, Afghanistan, who shocked defending champions England and Pakistan throughout a really promising marketing campaign, would go residence with their heads held excessive.
Persevering with his good run within the match, Omarzai confronted 107 balls whereas hitting seven fours and three sixes. Nonetheless, he couldn’t file his maiden ODI hundred after failing to attain off the final three balls of the ultimate over bowled by Kagiso Rabada.
On a pitch with none demons, South Africa began their chase confidently. However, because the match progressed, issues did not pan out the way in which South Africa would have preferred them to.
Ultimately, they achieved it with 15 balls remaining after a mighty scrap.
The in-form Quinton de Kock (41 off 47 balls) made his intentions clear fairly early with a 4 and a six off Mujeeb Ur Rahman, dancing down the observe to pummel the seasoned bowler over mid-off.
The dashing left-handed batter, who went previous Rachin Ravindra to turn into the main scorer of this match, then pulled a Naveen-ul-Haq half-tracker over deep sq. leg for a most.
De Kock, nonetheless, couldn’t go on to make an enormous one as he was adjudged trapped in entrance of the wicket by Mohammad Nabi, who selected to evaluation after failing to persuade the on-field umpire.
Trying to play a reverse sweep, De Kock missed and the ball hit the pads, prompting Nabi to go for a loud enchantment. Afghanistan’s transfer to evaluation the choice was vindicated when the ball monitoring confirmed that it was going to hit the leg stump.
De Kock, who had earlier within the day joined the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Sarfaraz Khan by taking six catches, struck two fours and three sixes.
In the meantime, skipper Temba Bavuma’s (23 off 28) poor run continued as he was proven the door by Mujeeb, who had the batter in all types of bother with a again of a size supply that hurried onto him.
Bavuma, who regarded like he was struggling whereas fielding, appeared to battle cramps after he had come out to bat with an intention to spend a while within the center following an underwhelming sequence of scores.
Aiden Markram (25 off 32) additionally gave his wicket away after getting a begin whereas Heinrich Klaasen was dismissed by the wily Rashid Khan, a well-deserved reward for some glorious bowling, as South Africa slipped to 139 for 4 within the twenty eighth over.
A 43-run partnership ensued earlier than Nabi had David Miller (24 off 33) in a fairly smooth dismissal, leaving Van der Dussen to finish the job.
Earlier, Afghanistan have been off to a gradual begin after their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi opted to bat first, however South Africa meant enterprise as they snared three wickets for 4 runs to go away their opponents in a spot of hassle at 45 for 3 within the eleventh over.
At that time, it appeared like the choice to bat first was backfiring at the same time as Bavuma marshalled his sources nicely to maintain South Africa forward within the recreation.
However even earlier than the Proteas might rejoice the primary breakthrough they confronted an anxious second when pacer Lungi Ngidi went off the sphere after struggling what regarded like an ankle or achilles subject.
Ngidi, nonetheless, returned to select the wickets of Rahmat Shah and Nabi, who nicked one to De Kock after going through simply three balls, leaving his workforce at 116 for six within the twenty eighth over.
Having smoked lead pacer Rabada’s size ball outdoors off for a six over long-on, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (25) discovered the fence once more when he produced a beautiful cowl driver towards the identical bowler.
Desperately on the lookout for a breakthrough, Bavuma launched Keshav Maharaj into the assault and the left-arm spinner straightaway responded with the massive wicket of Gurbaz, who edged a turning supply to Klaasen at first slip.
Not solely did Maharaj strike together with his first ball he additionally loved a wicket-maiden, giving South Africa a little bit of a momentum which they used to their benefit by shortly grabbing two extra wickets.
A lot was anticipated of Ibrahim Zadran, who scored a superb hundred towards Australia of their final recreation, however the opener was achieved in by a brief ball from Coetzee.
Omarzai, nonetheless, continued to battle it out.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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