Afghanistan Defeated South Africa in Bilateral ODI series, prepares for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Afghanistan and South Africa played a three match bilateral ODI series starting 18th september,The series proved beneficial for both teams’ preparations ahead of ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Afghanistan made history by defeating South Africa in this bilateral series that was hosted by Afghanistan in UAE in Sharjah Cricket Stadium. It is important to note that Afghanistan and South Africa have played each other in ODI’s two times before – in the 2019 World Cup and 2023 World Cup.

AFGHANISTAN AND SOUTH AFRICA ODI SERIES 

MATCH	VENUE	TARGET	WINNER
1st ODI (September 18, 2024)	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	106 runs by South Africa	Afghanistan won by scoring 107/4
2nd ODI (September 20, 2024)	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	311 runs by Afghanistan	Afghanistan won by 177 runs
3rd ODI (September 22, 2024)	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	169 runs by Afghanistan	SA beat Afghanistan by 7 wickets

KEY POINTS:

• Afghanistan won this series by 2-1 making history by beating South Africa (a top 5 ranked team in ODI by ICC) in a series for the first time with a big win margin of 177 runs. Afghanistan have become the ninth country to defeat South Africa in a bilateral men’s One-Day International (ODI) series.
• RehmanUllah Gurbaz , the young emerging talent, an extremely talented wicketkeeper and batter proved himself in this Afghanistan – South Africa series.  He scored 109 and 89 runs in two matches. Rahmat Shah (50) and Azmatullah Omarzai (86*) gave him strong backing. 
• He is also man of the match and player of the series.
• Rashid Khan made a strong comeback, he led the afghan bowling attack claiming 7 wickets at an average of 7.00, despite missing a match due to injury.
• Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbeaten 86 off 50 balls set a new record for Afghanistan’s highest strike rate in an ODI.

Afghanistan

BATTER	DISMISSAL	RUNS (BALLS)	4S	6S	SR
Rahmanullah Gurbaz	c Reeza Hendricks b Andile Phehlukwayo	89 (94)	7	4	94.68
Abdul Malik	lbw b Lungi Ngidi	9 (19)	1	0	47.37
Rahmat Shah	run out (Lungi Ngidi)	1 (6)	0	0	16.67
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)	run out (Tristan Stubbs / Kyle Verreynne)	10 (17)	0	0	58.82
Azmatullah Omarzai	b Ngabayomi Peter	2 (4)	0	0	50
Ikram Alikhil (W)	run out (Temba Bavuma)	0 (9)	0	0	44.44
Mohammad Nabi	c Kyle Verreynne b Bjorn Fortuin	5 (13)	0	0	38.46
Nangeyalia Kharote	b Andile Phehlukwayo	0 (2)	0	0	0
AM Ghazanfar	not out	31 (15)	2	3	206.67
Fareed Ahmad	b Lungi Ngidi	4 (20)	0	0	20
Naveed Zadran	c Aiden Markram b Ngabayomi Peter	1 (4)	0	0	25
Extras: 13 (W: 11, LB: 2)
Total: 169/10 (34 OVERS, RPO: 4.97)

South Africa

BATTER	DISMISSAL	RUNS (BALLS)	4S	6S	SR
Tony de Zorzi	lbw b Mohammad Nabi	26 (31)	2	1	83.87
Temba Bavuma (C)	b AM Ghazanfar	22 (28)	3	0	78.57
Reeza Hendricks	c Ikram Alikhil b Fareed Ahmad	18 (31)	1	0	58.06
Aiden Markram	not out	69 (67)	4	3	102.99
Tristan Stubbs	not out	26 (42)	1	1	61.9
Kyle Verreynne (W)		0 (0)	0	0	0
Wiaan Mulder		0 (0)	0	0	0
Andile Phehlukwayo		0 (0)	0	0	0
Bjorn Fortuin		0 (0)	0	0	0
Ngabayomi Peter		0 (0)	0	0	0
Lungi Ngidi		0 (0)	0	0	0
Extras: 9 (W: 7, NB: 1, LB: 1)
Total: 170/3 (33 OVERS, RPO: 5.15)