South Africa Vs Afghanistan
South Africa, which has reached the semi-finals of the World Cup 2023, has once again shown before the big match how difficult it is for them to chase runs. South Africa defeated Afghanistan by 5 wickets in the last match of the league stage before their semi-final match against Australia on 16 November. On the strength of Gerald Kotjia’s excellent bowling, South Africa restricted Afghanistan to just 244 runs and then Rassie van der Dussen’s fighting half-century took the team to the target. However, once again South Africa’s weakness in chasing the target came to the fore.
His explosive batting played a big role in South Africa reaching the semi-finals, which scored big scores. But South Africa did all this while batting first. Whenever he had to bat at number two, he started sweating. It faced a shocking defeat against Netherlands, while Pakistan was somehow defeated by the last batsmen. Whereas in front of Team India, it collapsed for just 83 runs. His path was also not easy against Afghanistan, who despite the defeat, won everyone’s hearts with their brilliant performance in this World Cup.
Kotjia shook, Omarzai groomed
Just 5 days ago, South Africa had to face a crushing defeat against Team India at Eden Gardens. Once again he had to field on the same ground and once again he had to chase. However, like almost every match, South Africa’s bowlers made a strong start this time too and shook Afghanistan’s top order. His 3 wickets had fallen for only 45 runs. After this there was a partnership of 49 runs between Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Omarzai.
With the dismissal of Rahmat Shah, the innings faltered again and by the 28th over, 6 wickets fell at the score of 116 runs. From here the entire responsibility was on Omarzai and the young all-rounder did not disappoint. Omarzai, along with Rashid Khan (14) and Noor Ahmed (26), troubled the South African bowlers and took the team to a score of 244 runs. However, Omarzai’s century (97 not out) could not be completed. The last batsman Naveen Ul Haq was run out on the 5th ball of the 50th over. For South Africa, young pacer Gerald Kotjia took 4 wickets, while Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj got 2 wickets each.
South Africa won again after falling
South Africa got the start it needed. Captain Temba Bavuma (23) and Quinton de Kock (41) completed 60 runs in just 10 overs. After such a start, the same thing happened again which the South African team has been doing in the run chase. Within just 3 overs, both the batsmen returned to the pavilion. Captain Bavuma’s bad form continued here too, while De Kock could not convert the good start into a big score. Afghanistan’s spinners created problems for South Africa.
From here Rassie van der Dussen took charge, who got good support from Aiden Markram (25). Both of them together added 50 runs. Rashid (2/37) broke this partnership by dismissing Markram, while after some time the veteran leg spinner again got the wicket of explosive batsman Heinrich Klaasen. David Miller (24) also supported Rasi for some time but he got trapped in the spin of Mohammad Nabi (2/35). South Africa again seemed to be missing in the chase but Rasi along with Andile Phehlukwayo took the team to the target.
