Ahmedabad11 February. The South Africa vs Afghanistan ICC T20 World Cup match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday saw the Proteas emerge victorious in the second Super Over despite valiant efforts from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

Afghanistan 10-187 in reply to Proteas’ 6-187

South Africa scored 187 runs for six wickets after losing the coin toss in this Group D match. In reply, Afghanistan team was out for 187 runs in 19.4 overs. After the match was tied, Super Over was implemented to settle the score.

First super over also tied

Interestingly, the first super over also ended in a tie. Lungi Ngidi bowled a super over for South Africa, in which Afghanistan scored 17 runs without loss with the help of Azmatullah Omarzai (16 not out, one six, two fours). South Africa scored 17 runs for one wicket in Fazalhaq Faruqui’s over. Tristan Stubbs (10 runs, one six, one four) equalized the score by hitting a six on the last ball.

Second Super Over – Gurbaz’s 3 consecutive sixes also did not work

Umarzai came to bowl the second Super Over, in which South Africa scored 23 runs without loss with the help of David Miller (16 runs, two sixes). After this, South African spinner Keshav Maharaj did not give any runs on the first two balls and dismissed Mohammad Nabi. Gurbaz (19 runs, three sixes) then hit three consecutive sixes, but he was out on the last ball. Thus, the Afghan team could reach only 19 runs for two wickets and had to face defeat.

South Africa’s second win, blow to Afghanistan’s hopes

With this win, South Africa has four points from two matches in Group D and is second behind leaders New Zealand (four points). He had defeated Canada in the first match. This is the second consecutive defeat for Afghanistan, which suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the first match and its hopes of entering the knockout have been dealt a blow. Now, to go to the next stage, they will not only have to win both their remaining matches but will also have to pray for favorable results in other matches.

Gurbaz’s strong fifty, two half-century partnerships

To be honest, Afghanistan was in a position to achieve the challenging target set by South Africa, but it suffered due to continuous loss of wickets. Gurbaz scored a strong half-century (84 runs, 42 balls, seven sixes, four fours) in a stormy style. He added 51 runs on the first wicket with opening partner Ibrahim Zadran (12 runs) and three batsmen were out within two runs.

score card

After this, Gurbaz was successful in adding 69 runs with Darwish Rasooli (15 runs) for the fourth wicket. At present, after the return of Gurbaz, the efforts of Azmatullah Umarzai (22 runs, 17 balls, three fours) and captain Rashid Khan (20 runs, 12 balls, three fours) were inadequate. When Afghanistan needed 30 runs on 18 balls, ‘Player of the Match’ Lungi Ngidi (3-26) dismissed Umarzai. Whereas Rashid was dismissed by Yanson in the 19th over. In the end, Noor Ahmed leveled the score by scoring 15 runs with the help of two sixes.

Partnership of 114 runs for the second wicket between Rickelton and De Kock

Earlier, South Africa lost captain Aiden Markram (five runs) early. But Ryan Rickelton (61 runs, 28 balls, four sixes, five fours) and Quinton de Kock (59 runs, 41 balls, three sixes, five fours) set the tone with a partnership of 114 runs for the second wicket amidst explosive half-century innings. For Afghanistan, Omarzai took three wickets for 41 runs while captain Rashid Khan got two wickets.

Australia’s campaign begins, defeats Ireland by 67 runs

On the other hand, in the Group B match played in Colombo, Australia started its campaign by defeating Ireland by 67 runs. R. Kangaroos, who came to bat first at Premadasa Stadium, scored 182 runs for six wickets.

In reply, the Irish team was limited to 115 runs in front of ‘Player of the Match’ Nathan Ellis (4-12) and his fellow bowlers. This is Ireland’s second consecutive defeat. In the first match, host Sri Lanka defeated them by 20 runs.