A brilliant bowling display propelled Afghanistan to their first win over South Africa in international cricket at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and 18-year-old sensation Allah Mohammad Ghzanfar starred as Afghanistan beat South Africa by six wickets.
Having won the toss, South Africa opted to bat first, only to be jolted by Farooqi’s early strikes. The left-arm pacer came around the wicket to account for Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram early on.
He added the wicket of Tony de Zorzi before Ghazanfar worked his magic on the middle-order, dismissing Tristan Stubbs and debutant Jason Smith for ducks in the same over.
South Africa, reduced to 29/5, soon crumbled to 36/7 as Ghazanfar snared the wicket of Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo succumbed to a run-out.
A fighting half-century from Wiaan Mulder, helped with a handy knock from Bjorn Fortuin, took South Africa to triple figures, but with just 106 on the board, they faced a stiff ask to keep Afghanistan away from a win.
Despite a good start with the ball, Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib’s unbeaten fifth-wicket stand guided Afghanistan to a historic triumph.
This is Afghanistan’s first win in six matches across formats against the Proteas. Recently, they had been bowled out for 56 against South Africa in the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
With this win, Afghanistan now have registered victories against all teams but India and Nepal (only one match played) in at least one of the formats.
Brief Score: South Africa 106 all out in 33.3 overs (Wiaan Mulder 52, Bjorn Fortuin 16, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4/35) vs Afghanistan 107/4 in 26 overs (Gulbadin Naib 34*, Azmatullah Omarzai 25*, Bjorn Fortuin 2/22)
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