By Caroline Chepkorir

In the second ODI series, Afghanistan defeated South Africa by 177 runs on Friday. Afghanistan was led by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who knocked an excellent century, and he was followed by Rashid Khan, who took five wickets.

Gurbaz smashed 105 as Afghanistan made 311-4 and the Proteas lost nine wickets for 61 runs. They were knocked out for just 134 runs in the 35th over.

Earlier, the partnership between Riaz Hassan and Gurbaz contributed 88 for the first wicket; later, Aiden Markram dismissed Hassan for 29. Rahmat Shah came in, and he shared the 101-run collaboration with Gurbaz, who was later bowled out by Nandre Burger for 105.

In response, South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi knocked 73 in 14 overs. However, Bavuma was dismissed, Khan was back, and he anchored an attack that led to the collapse of the Proteas.

As the powerplay got intense, the Proteas only managed to score 11 runs in the next four overs. After the departure of Bavuma and de Zorzi, the Proteas fell short and they lost all ten wickets in the space of 20.3 overs.

“For the openers, the job was to lay the foundation. We started well with Tony and myself, but then the spinners came in. Overall, not a good enough performance, not a good showing for us. We take the learnings and try to be as positive as we can. There is another opportunity for the guys to show what they can do out here. Overall, we need to be better. I think Omarzai played well, put us under pressure, and the foundation was shared by Gurbaz. We had two guys in our team who got in and laid the foundation, but couldn’t carry on,” said Bavuma in media reports.

With the series, Afghanistan will be looking forward to the next third and final match in Sharjah on Sunday. Despite suffering a hamstring injury, Rashid Khan was named player of the match, and it is hoped that he will be able to play in the final game.

“I had a hamstring injury, but I try my best to stay on the ground and do my best for the team. It was a great opportunity for us to win the series against a big team, so I had to stay till the end,” said Khan in media reports.