Afghanistan has defeated South Africa for the first time, and this victory ranks third among their victories with more balls remaining against a Test-playing country. In white-ball cricket, the team led by Jonathan Trott is making enormous progress, and their bowlers alone were the reason for this victory.
Afghanistan experienced some early nerves as the top order took a long time to even get in, following the injury to usual opener Ibrahim Zadran and Gurbaz’s early departure. However, Afghanistan began to breathe better with the arrival of Shahidi and Omarzai. With the help of Naib, the all-around man of Afghanistan, Omarzai remained unbeaten and together they made history. Though they battled valiantly, South Africa’s opponents never gave up, and a few missed opportunities did not help.
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.
