South Africa decided to let Afghanistan bat first after winning the toss. Openers Noor Ali Zadran and Hazratullah Zazai gave them a good beginning and the latter again bottled a great opportunity to score a high score. Rabada picked up his wicket with 39/1 and then started another flurry of wickets, which has been the story of Afghanistan in this tournament.
Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo sent Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi back, which paved way brilliantly for the Imran Tahir show to follow. The 40-year-old leg-spinner picked up the wicket of Noor Ali Zadran to get going and followed it up another wicket of Asghar Afghan.
From the Asian side, there was literally no fight back, which in rapid succession continued to lose some significant players. Rashid Khan stood tall in this difficult period, playing a little cameo. Before getting bowled out, his brilliance ensured they got themselves in a respectable place. He also ran full monty against Tahir, smashing three boundaries off the first four balls before getting dismissed off the fifth.
In an innings that was disrupted twice because of rain, Afghanistan was bowled out for 125 runs. Imran Tahir picked up four wickets for the Saffers while Morris came back with amazing 3/13 figures.
The target was revised to 127 runs in 48 overs with the rain interruption. Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla were long overdue a big knock. Both of these outstanding white ball cricketers struggled in the previous matches and were also not very lucky. This time around, they were favored by fortunes to put up big scores and brilliantly took their opportunities.
Hashim Amla took the whole time to get going, but since the side had plenty of time to get over the line, it didn’t bother the team. Quinton de Kock continued to follow the poor deliveries and batted very sensibly on his way to a half-century. Gulbadin Naib dismissed de Kock for a well-compiled 68 off 72 deliveries just after the duo finished the 100-run stand.
South Africa sent Andile Phehlukwayo to bat at number three just like England sent in Chris Woakes at number three the other day. The left-handed batsman went in and smashed a few boundaries off Rashid. With a six off Mohammad Nabi, he completed the match to help South Africa finish the run chase with almost 20 overs to spare.