Gurbaz and birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-point victory over South Africa
Century maker: Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Chandan Khanna
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Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored a superb century before leg-spin wizard Rashid Khan celebrated his 26th birthday with five wickets as Afghanistan crushed South Africa by 177 runs in the second One-Day International on Friday.
Gurbaz scored 105 as Afghanistan reached 311-4 before the Proteas lost nine wickets for 61 runs and were bowled out for just 134 runs in the 35th over.
It was the seventh century of the 22-year-old Gurbaz’s ODI career and included ten fours and three sixes.
“I had a hamstring injury but I’m trying my best to stay grounded and do my best for the team,” said man of the match Rashid after scoring 5-19.
“It was a great opportunity for us to win the series against a great team, so I had to stay until the end.”
Two days after winning the first ODI by six wickets, Afghanistan got off to a brilliant start as the openers capitalised on their coin toss victory.
Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan scored 88 for the first wicket before Aiden Markram took Hassan to leg for 29.
That brought in Rahmat Shah (50), who shared a 101-run partnership with Gurbaz before the opener fell shortly after reaching his milestone, bowled by Nandre Burger for 105.
With that out, the innings slowed down, although Azmatullah Omarzai went all out with a quick, unbeaten 86 runs in 50 balls, including six sixes, to force the Proteas to fight an uncomfortable comeback.
In response, South Africa’s openers, captain Temba Bavuma, who top-scored with 38, and Tony de Zorzi (31), scored 73 for the first wicket.
But after her departure, the Proteas fell apart.
Leg-spin star Rashid took 5-19 from nine overs and was ably supported by rookie off-spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, who took figures of 4-26 in only his third ODI appearance.
“I think the openers’ job is to lay the foundation but the wickets started falling and we were stuck on the spin,” Bavuma said.
“The performance wasn’t good enough. We couldn’t take ten wickets and that’s a conversation we need to have. They were much better clinically than us.”
With Rashid’s haul, his career total in this format is now 190 wickets.
He dismissed dangerous midfielders Tristan Stubbs (five), Kyle Verreynne (two) and Wiaan Mulder (two) in two consecutive overs, scoring just eight runs.
With the series now concluded, Afghanistan will look to secure a clear win in their third and final match in Sharjah on Sunday.
