A series of three ODI matches was scheduled between South Africa and Afghanistan. Which was to be held from 18 September to 22 September 2024 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates. And now the 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match has been played between these two teams. But the decision of this match has come out very different from all kinds of statistics and estimates.

Afghanistan has badly defeated South Africa by defeating them by 6 wickets in their 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match. The Afghanistan team has shone like the rising sun with their hard work and struggle in the last almost 1 year. And in the past year, the Afghanistan team has done such feats many times.

Australia vs Afghanistan – Decisive match to reach playoffs in ODI World Cup 2023

Afghanistan had recently defeated Australia in a similar way. The Australian team is a five-time World Cup winner. But in this ODI World Cup, the Australian team was seen struggling to reach the playoffs. In such a situation, Australia’s decisive match was against Afghanistan. In which the condition of both the teams was such that whichever team won its decisive match, it would reach the playoffs.

And in such a situation, the Afghanistan team brought the Australian team to its knees. And Australia lost 7 wickets at a team score of just 92. While the Australian team had to chase 294 runs. In such a situation, the Australian team was seen completely sinking. But then Australia’s deadly batsman Glenn Maxwell single-handedly turned the whole match around. And by hitting 201 runs, he gave victory to his sinking team. But even a team like Australia realized the hard work and struggle of Afghanistan that day.

It is said that if you want to understand today, you have to find yesterday. In this way, you have to track the progress of Afghanistan to understand the result of today. The hard work done by them has once again given such a result, which will surprise the cricket world as well as make them feel happy. Now let’s talk about this series of three ODI matches between Afghanistan and South Africa, in which Afghanistan has taken a 1-0 lead by winning the 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match.

 A look at South Africa’s performance in the 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match

In this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match, South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first. And Reeza Hendricks and young batsman Tony de Zorzi came on the field as openers from South Africa’s side. And South Africa’s team was seen struggling from its first over against Afghanistan’s bowling. And soon on the last ball of the third over, Afghanistan’s fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi clean bowled South Africa’s experienced batsman Reeza Hendricks on the team score of only 17 runs. And took the first wicket for his team.

And Reeza Hendricks returned to the pavilion after scoring just 9 runs in 12 balls. Then South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram himself came on the field to support young batsman Tony de Zorzi. And on the last ball of the fifth over, Captain Markram was also out after scoring just 2 runs in 5 balls on the team score of 24 runs. And Fazalhaq Farooqi added the second wicket to his team’s account by clean bowling South Africa’s captain Markram.

  After Aiden Markram, South Africa’s deadly and young batsman Tristan Stubbs came to the field. And then on the second ball of the 7th over, young batsman Tony de Zorzi, who was struggling in the field for a long time, also handed over his catch to Hashmatullah Shahidi. And at the team’s score of only 25 runs, Fazalhaq Farooqi took the third wicket for himself and his team in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa. And Tony de Zorzi was caught out after scoring 11 runs off 18 balls. And the South African team was completely shaken.

Then young wicketkeeper batsman Kyle Verreynne came to the field to support Tristan Stubbs from the South African camp. But soon Tristan Stubbs, who had impressed everyone with his brilliant performance in the IPL. But in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match, he also returned to the pavilion after playing 5 balls and scoring 0 runs. And this time Mohammad Nabi caught Stubbs on the ball of Allah Ghazanfar.

After Stubbs, now young batsman Jason Smith from South Africa’s team came on the field. But no batsman from South Africa was able to survive for long in front of Afghanistan’s deadly bowling. And this happened once again. Immediately after Stubbs, young batsman Jason Smith also returned after getting out on 0 runs on 5 balls. And this time again Allah Ghazanfar got him out LBW.

And then South Africa’s young all-rounder Wiaan Mulder came on the field. But after some time, South Africa’s wicketkeeper batsman Kyle Verreynne was also got out LBW by Allah Ghazanfar. And in the second ball of the 10th over, South Africa lost its precious 6 wickets on a team score of just 36 runs in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match.

Now South Africa’s bowling all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo came to the field to support Wiaan Mulder. And then Wiaan Mulder was seen struggling continuously for his team. But Phehlukwayo, who came to support him, was run out by Gulbadin Naib. And this was the third player of South Africa, who lost his wicket on 0 runs in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match. After that South Africa’s bowler Bjorn Fortuin came to the field.

And after losing 7 wickets on the team score of 36 runs in 10 overs, this pair stayed on the field for some time. And after that both these players struggled a lot for their team. But they could not succeed in taking the team to a respectable score. However, both these players spent a lot of time on the field. But then on the second ball of the 24th over, Rashid Khan ended this partnership by clean bowling Bjorn Fortuin. And after a lot of struggle, Bjorn Fortuin was able to score only 16 runs in 34 balls for his team.

Then Wiaan Mulder fought for his team alone for many overs. And on the other end, bowler Nandre Burger stood to support him. But on the second ball of the 33rd over, Wiaan Mulder was also clean bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi. And after a lot of struggle, young batsman Wiaan Mulder scored 52 runs for his team in 84 balls. But in front of such deadly bowling, this innings of Wiaan Mulder can be called a brilliant innings. And finally, on the third ball of the 34th over, Rashid Khan dismissed Lungi Ngidi LBW and South Africa’s team was all out for just 106 runs in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa.

Afghanistan team performance in the 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match

In this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa – To chase the target of 106 runs set by South Africa, Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz and 21-year-old young batsman Riaz Hasan came to the field as openers. And on the third ball of the first over, Gurbaz got caught by Jason Smith. And Afghanistan lost a wicket without even opening the account. And Lungi Ngidi got this first success for his team. Now Rahmat Shah came to bat in place of Gurbaz.

After 7 overs, Bjorn Fortuin got Rahmat Shah out LBW on the last ball of his 8th over. And Afghanistan lost their second wicket. Similarly, Riaz Hasan lost his wicket after scoring 16 runs in 35 balls and Hashmatullah Shahidi also lost his wicket after scoring 16 runs in 29 balls. And then after losing 4 wickets, Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Omarzai scored 25 runs in 36 balls and Gulbadin Naib scored 34 runs in 27 balls to give victory to their team in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa. And in this way, Afghanistan has taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Players who performed well in the 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match

From South Africa’s side, young bowling all-rounder Wiaan Mulder played a half-century inning by scoring 52 runs in 84 balls. While if we talk about Afghanistan’s bowlers, then Afghanistan’s young bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi took 4 wickets giving only 35 runs in his 7 overs. And was also the “Man of the Match” in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match.

And Afghanistan’s other young bowler Allah Ghazanfar bowled economically and gave only 20 runs in his 10 overs. And took 3 wickets. While Afghanistan’s well-known bowling all-rounder Rashid Khan took 2 important wickets giving 30 runs in his 8.3 overs in this 1st ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match. Now 2nd ODI Afghanistan vs South Africa match will play also in Sharjah Cricket Stadium (UAE) of 20 September 2024.