Afghanistan registered their first-ever win against South Africa in the first ODI match in Sharjah on Wednesday, September 18. With the majority of the players missing the series, South Africa were bowled out to just 106 against Afghanistan’s impressive bowling attack.
Hashmatullah Shahidi-led Afghan side also struggled early in the chase but managed to register an impressive six-wicket win to create history. In-form pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi emerged as the best bowler with four wickets while the young spinner Allah Gazanfar picked three for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan had previously failed to beat South Africa in two ODIs and three T20I encounters. But they excelled in every department at Sharjah Cricket Stadium to end their wait for the maiden win against the Proteas.
Earlier, the stand-in skipper Aiden Makram won the toss and elected to bat first with the batting all-rounder Jason Smith making his ODI debut. But his decision to bat first backfired as the Proteas lost their first seven wickets with just 36 runs on the scoreboard inside 10 overs.
But Wiaan Mulder then registered his maiden international fifty by top-scoring with 52 runs to help South Africa avoid their lowest ODI total. Farooqi continued his red-hot form with four wickets for 35 and also completed his 100 ODI wickets. Youngster Gazanfar picked three for 30 and star spinner Rashid Khan bagged two for the hosts.
After the game, Markram accepted a disappointing loss and said that his team will return with better gameplan for the second game which will be played on Friday.
“We were a few runs short,” Aiden Markram said after the match “Some good honest reflections can take place tonight and tomorrow and we can come up with better plans on Friday. They made it tough for us but I still believe we are a better batting unit. We need solid gameplans and put pressure back on them. We couldn’t put them under pressure. Honest learnings. We will look to bounce back. Gameplans and approaches would be different for each player but as long as it toes the team’s line we will be fine.”
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Allah Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
South Africa Playing XI: Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Jason Smith, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger.