Victory Markram contributes to South Africa’s final-day victory. South Africa ended their three-match series against Afghanistan with a consolation win of 2-1, completing their ninth successful chase in 22 matches since 2021. Afghanistan’s attack lacked some intensity in the absence of Rashid and Farooqi, but they had little to work with after the batting errors. After being outplayed in the opening two games, South Africa’s bowlers and fielders turned the tide of the match by dismissing Afghanistan in 34 overs, leaving their hitters with a modest target to chase.
In ten innings, Aiden Markram hit his first fifty in an ODI, and he and Tristan Stubbs combined for a 90-run partnership at the fourth wicket. Stubbs has played in just four ODI matches, but more significantly, he was able to bat the entire game.
Although Afghanistan’s attack lacked intensity due to Rashid Khan’s hamstring injury sustained in the second match and Fazalhaq Faooqi’s rest, they did not have as much to work with as they would have liked following their batting errors. Once more, Rahmanullah Gurbaz kept Afghanistan’s innings together by being the only one in the top eight to score more than ten.
He increased his lead at the top of the series run-scorers statistics and was 11 runs shy of a second consecutive century in the ODI format. With AM Ghazanfar batting at No. 9, he scored 31 off 15 balls, setting a target of 170 for South Africa. After 33 overs, they arrived.
Bjorn Fortuin and Lungi Ngidi combined well in the new ball, and they also contributed to South Africa’s enthusiasm in the field. Three of the first five Afghanistan wickets came by run-outs, giving South Africa an advantage they had not had in the opening two games.
Markram contributes to South Africa’s final-day victory
With his variety of cutters and slower balls, Ngidi was quite effective up front. He made a breakthrough early on when he trapped rookie opener Abdul Malik on the pad after he played all around a straight delivery. In his subsequent over, Ngidi made what was perhaps a more significant breakthrough when Gurbaz drove him aerially.
He held out his right hand, allowing the ball to graze his finger before ricocheting off Rahmat Shah and onto the stumps. Rahmat was out of position on the non-striker’s end.
Though Rahmat was tardy in returning, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s indifference was more concerning. In order to give Stubbs enough time at sweeper cover to throw to Kyle Verreynne and run the Afghanistan captain out, he struck Markam behind square and asked for two, but he ran the second too slowly and strayed off a straight line. The next over saw legspinner Nqaba Peter bowl Azmatullah Omarzai, which made matters worse.
Gurbaz had already amassed a 47-ball 50 by that point, peppered with his trademark crisp hitting on the leg side and down the ground. Even though he was getting angry at his partner’s errors, he handled the wickets by batting as normally as possible. The next to misjudge was Ikram Alikhil, as Gurbaz bottom-edged a pull off Markram to midwicket, denying him a chance to score a single. Gurbaz sent Alikhil back as he was halfway down the wicket, but Temba Bavuma was on the ball and ran Alikhil out.
Afghanistan’s final recognized batsman, Mohammad Nabi, was quieted by South Africa and ought to have been out for five after he mishandled an arm ball from Bjorn Fortuin. Though they didn’t review, a replay revealed he would have been out of bounds. In the subsequent over, Fortuin regained his revenge when Nabi edged him to Verreynne and Bavuma successfully reviewed the victory.
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