Sharjah: Centurion Garbaz and Rashid five wickets, South Africa lost the series

Afghanistan cricket team has taken an unbeaten two-nil lead in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, continuing their recent streak of big victories.

In the opening two matches of this ongoing ODI series in Sharjah, Afghanistan surprised South Africa first with excellent bowling and then with excellent batting.

Batting first in the second ODI, hosts Afghanistan scored 311 runs thanks to Rahmanullah Garbaz’s century, Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Umarzai’s half-centuries.

In reply, the South African batsmen failed miserably for the second time in this series and the whole team could only score 134 runs. Thus, he had to face defeat in this match by 177 runs.

Rahmanullah Garbaz of Afghanistan scored a century in the second ODI against South Africa in Sharjah on September 20, 2024 (Photo: Afghanistan Cricket Board/Facebook)

The batsmen as well as the bowlers also played an important role in Afghanistan’s victory and leg-spinner Rashid Khan was declared the man of the match by taking five wickets. On his birthday, he conceded just 19 runs in nine overs and dismissed five players.

Apart from him, young Ningalia also bowled well and guided four players to the pavilion.

Like the first match of the series, the South African batsmen failed to understand the Afghan bowlers on the Sharjah pitch in the second match played on Friday.

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Only skipper Buuma with 38 and Zorzi with 31 runs stood out for the visiting team.

Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first, so opener Garbaz, who failed in the first match of the series, equalized the previous score in the second match and played an innings of 105 runs off 110 balls with the help of three sixes and 10 fours.

He was followed by Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Umarzai who played a fast-paced 86-run innings which included six sixes and five fours.

In this way, Afghanistan has not only won two consecutive matches against South Africa for the first time by showing good performance in the fields of batting and bowling, but has also defeated a team in the top five in the ICC rankings for the first time.