Cricket Highlights, 11 Nov: ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 (Match 42) – South Africa vs Afghanistan: AFG crashed out of the tournament after losing against SA.

South Africa vs Afghanistan (Match 42) – Highlights

Despite getting into some trouble in batting first, Afghanistan managed to give South Africa a challenging target in the end. They put the Proteas under good pressure by going down to defend the run. However, Temba Bavuma’s team left the field with a victory at the end due to Rassie van der Dussen’s batting skills.

South Africa beat Afghanistan by 5 wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday (November 10). With this loss, Afghanistan has been officially eliminated from the tournament. The Proteas, who had already secured the top four, retained the second position in the table.

Afghanistan had to win this match by at least 438 runs to qualify for the semi-finals. After the first innings, the hopes of the semi were over for the Afghans. However, with a target of 245 runs, South Africa was well-pressed by Hashmatullah Shahidi’s team. In the end, with the great batting of Van der Dussen and Andile Phehlukwayo, the Proteas reached the port of victory with 15 balls in hand.

South Africa got off to a great start chasing the target. The Proteas scored 57 runs without losing any wickets in the powerplay with the dashing batting performances of the two openers. South Africa lost their first wicket on 64 runs. Opener Bavuma was dismissed for 23 runs. After that, Quinton de Kock (41) returned to the dressing room adding 2 more runs to the scoreboard.

Van der Dussen made a partnership of 50 runs with Aiden Markram for the third wicket. Rashid Khan broke the pair by returning Markram (25). Rashid also sent off Heinrich Klaasen (10) in quick time.

David Miller and Van der Dussen added 43 runs for the fifth wicket. Miller (24) was caught by Mohammad Nabi. After that, Phehlukwayo and Van der Dussen batted with a cool head despite being in a bit of danger. They reached the port of victory with 2 overs and 3 balls remaining. Dussen remained unbeaten after playing a match-winning innings of 76 runs. Phehlukwayo scored 39 runs off 37 balls.

Earlier, the Afghans got off to a good start by winning the toss and batting. The two openers added 41 runs in the beginning. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (25) was the first wicket picked by Keshav Maharaj. Another opener Ibrahim Zadran (15) was dismissed by Gerald Coetzee in the next over.

Maharaj also returned Afghan captain Hashmatullah (2). Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmat Shah put on a partnership of 49 runs for the fourth wicket. When Rahmat returned with 26 runs, the Afghans lost 2 more wickets with a gap of 22 runs.

Coming to handle the disaster, Rashid made a partnership of 44 runs with Azmatullah. Lungi Ngidi got rid of this all-rounder for 14 runs. Azmatullah added another 44 runs with Noor Ahmad for the eighth wicket. Azmatullah had a good chance to score a century at the end. However, Kagiso Rabada’s extraordinary bowling propelled him to leave the field with regret.

Azmatullah played an unbeaten innings of 97 runs off 107 balls hitting 7 fours and 3 sixes. Afghanistan was all out for 244 runs in the last ball of the innings. Gerald Coetzee took the maximum number of 4 wickets for South Africa. Apart from this, Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi took 2 wickets each, and Andile Phehlukwayo also picked up 1 wicket.

South Africa vs Afghanistan Scoreboard

Afghanistan – 244/10 (50.0)

South Africa – 247/5 (47.3)

Result – South Africa won by 5 wickets

Player of the match – Rassie van der Dussen

Rassie van der Dussen

South Africa vs Afghanistan Playing XIs

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