Ahmedabad, Nov 10: Electing to bat first, Afghanistan were 226/9 in 48 overs against South Africa in the 42nd match of the ICC ODI Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, here on Friday.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the first to fall bowled by Keshav Maharaj, caught at slip by Henrich Klassen, after scoring 25 in 22 balls. Afghanistan lost their first wicket at 41, in 8.1 overs.
Afghanistan batting main-stay Ibrahim Zadran, while trying for a big hit against right arm pacer Gerald Coetzee, ended up edging a catch to keeper Quinton de Kock.
Zadran (15 in 30 balls) departed soon after Gurbaz's exit, as his side got the second jolt at the same score (41/2) in 9.3 overs.
Afghanistan might have expected their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi to stand tall and resist the African attack.
But he failed to negotiate a comparatively straighter delivery from Keshav Maharaj and edged one to de Kock behind the stumps, who grabbed the opportunity gladly. In a span of 4 runs, Afghanistan lost three quick wickets, and were reduced to 45/3.
Rahmat Shah, was yet another Afghan batter to have got a start and not converted it to a bigger one. He was removed by pacer Lungi Ngidi, as David Mller finally caught him at backward point, after a few fumbles. Rahmat made 26 in 46 balls.
Having tested success, young pacer Coetzee struck again, as he compelled Ikram Alikhil (12 in 14 balls) to edge one to keeper de Kock, who seemed to be having a good day behind the stumps.
Next in queue was Mohd Nabi (2 in 3 runs), who was claimed by Ngidi, as de Kock grabbed yet another easy take behind the wickets. With Nabi's exit, Afghanistan were reeling at 116/6 in 27.4 overs.
The silverling in the Afghan batting line-up was the fighting half century by Azmatullah Omarzai. Rashid Khan (14 in 30 balls) gave him good support. But Andile Phehlukwayo got Rashid caught by de Kock to break his resistance. But by then Rashid and Omarzai had shared a vital 44 runs 7th wicket partnership on a fine recovery cause.
Coetzee had his third scalp and de Kock held his 6th catch on the day, as Noor Ahmed's 26 in 32 balls fight ended and Afghanistan were in more problems with score-card reflecting 204/8 in 46 overs.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman trying to accelerate, departed scoring 8 runs in 5 balls. Coetzee got him caught by Aiden Markaram
