The last match of the ongoing series between South Africa and Afghanistan will be played on 22nd September in Sharjah.
Match Preview:
Afghanistan has already sealed the ongoing ODI series against South Africa. It was their first-ever victory against the South African side. The team Afghanistan has been on a roll since the 2023 ODI World Cup, 2023.
In the ODI World Cup, the side ended up beating England and Pakistan for the first time in the history of the ODIs. Many term it as a fluke but then the side ended up beating New Zealand and Australia for the first time in the history of their cricket. Not only this, they ended up playing their first T20 semi-final as well, earlier this year.
And now, they outclassed and outperformed South Africa in every department and would look forward to completing a historic whitewash.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his seventh ODI century and he has been the fulcrum of his side. He has been a mainstay as he played a major role when Afghanistan was busy making history in the ODI World Cup.
And in the second ODI, Rashid Khan made a thumping comeback in the side after missing out on the Ireland series. He shined with the bowl as he racked up five-four that too on his birthday and bowled out South Africa for just 134 in the chase of 311.
Azmatullah Omarzai was another standout performer for the side of late and in his recent outing, he scored an unbeaten knock of 86* from 50 and scored the fastest fifty for his team in the format.
During this series, Afghanistan also found another exciting spinner, Allah Ghazanfar, who couldn’t take wickets in the second ODI but remained economical and in the first ODI he took 3 wickets for 20 in his quota of 10 overs.
Talking about South Africa, it wasn’t a welcoming comeback for them to the ODI format. They couldn’t show any glimpses of retaliation with the bat and ball. Tristan Stubbs did not perform up to the expectations and debutant leg spinner Nqaba Peter could not make an immediate impact in the second ODI of the series.
While the captain Aiden Markram added this unwanted record to his name, he said that he is building a team and it will take some time so they will be persistent and patient regardless of the results. While Afghanistan has already won the series,
South Africa will look to avoid the historic whitewash.
Pitch and weather report:
The Sharjah pitch tends to assist batters as we have seen in the last ODI as well. A team that wins the toss will look to bat first.
Head-to-head record:
As of now, a total of 4 games have been played between the two sides and both of them won 2 games each.
Predictions:
Given the recent performances, Afghanistan is the favorite to win the match and complete a historic whitewash.
Where to watch:
Pakistan: Tapmad
India: FanCode app
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Hong Kong: STYX Sports
UAE: Cricbuzz live streaming
Canada, USA, and the rest of Asia: Willow TV
UK: Sky Sports
