South Africa win T20 World Cup thriller against Afghanistan

South Africa beat Afghanistan in one of the most remarkable and thrilling T20s match ever seen in Ahmedabad, India at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

The Proteas needed two super overs to get the better of their opponents in a heart-stopping contest where both teams could have, and should have, won during regular play.

As it is, South Africa have now won both of their group matches, having earlier also beaten Canada. They face New Zealand on Saturday and end their pool play with a match against the UAE next week.

Aiden Markram and his side are now in a strong position to advance to the Super Eights, while Afghanistan, with two losses, look set to miss out.

Super overs

After the teams had tied on 187 runs each after regular play, the teams tied again on a total of 17 each after the first super over, Tristan Stubbs of the Proteas smashing a six off the last ball of the over to ensure the match would go to a second super over.

In the second super over, South Africa posted 23, with David Miller 16 off four, including two sixes. Afghanistan were in early trouble with no runs, a wicket down and only four balls to go. Then, Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck three sixes to get his side to 18, with one ball to go. He lost his wicket on the last ball, after Keshav Maharaj had also bowled an earlier wide.

There was relief all-round in the South African camp, as they won the second super over by four runs, but it while the watching world were thrilled by the two super overs, the match should have been done in regular play …

Thrilling finish

Asked to chase down 188 to win, Gurbaz led Afghanistan’s charge with a thrilling 84 off 42 with a few other good contributions along the way.

Needing 13 runs to win in the final over, Kagiso Rabada took what should have been the 10th wicket with his first ball, but he stepped over the line and Afghanistan got a lifeline. Rabada then bowled a wide and another no ball and with Afghanistan needing two runs to win with two balls remaining Marco Jansen and Rabada orchestrated the run-out of Fazalhaq Farooqi, leaving them all out for 187, and the scores tied.

The South Africans’ bowling was poor; besides Rabada’s errors in the final over, they bowled too short and too many leg-side balls.

Lungi Ngidi, however, returned excellent figures of 3/26 in four, his slower balls again causing problems for the batters.

Maharaj, with 1/27 in his four, was also excellent, as he was during the second super over.

The South Africans though were excellent in the field, which helped keep Afghanistan in check later in their chase. Excellent catches by Marco Jansen, George Linde, Stubbs and Miller were crucial.

The work done by Maharaj, Jansen and Rabada in pulling off three run-outs was also good.

SA batting innings

Earlier, after being sent in to bat, South Africa posted 187/6 in their 20 overs thanks mainly to a high-quality second-wicket stand of 114 between Quinton de Kock (59 off 41) and Ryan Rickelton (61 off 28).

Both men played beautifully after the early loss of Aiden Markram, with each hitting five fours, while Rickelton smashed four sixes and De Kock three sixes.

The innings though stalled when both men were out in quick succession, within two balls of each other in the 13th over.

Dewald Brevis (23 off 19) and David Miller (20 not out off 15) got things back on track, while Marco Jansen hit a quick-fire 16 off seven balls at the death, but the South Africans will feel they should have got well over 200 considering where they were when De Kock and Rickelton were at the crease.

Azmatullah Omarzai picked up 3/31 and Rashid Khan got 2/28 for Afghanistan.