Sharjah (UAE): Rashid Khan bowled an outstanding spell in the second ODI of the bilateral series against South Africa in Sharjah on Friday. The Afghanistan leggie picked up a five-wicket haul and so they skittled the South African innings on 134 while defending a total of 311. During his prolific spell, Rashid became the first bowler in the 53 years of history of ODI cricket to take a five-wicket haul on his birthday. Previously, the best figures by a bowler in ODIs were by South Africa's Vernon Philander who picked 4/12 against Ireland in 2007.
The 177-run victory is Afghanistan’s biggest in ODI cricket bettering the previous best of 154-run win against Zimbabwe. Afghans had won the first match of the series and a win in the second fixture has given them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Electing to bat first, Afghanistan posted a total of 311/4 from the allotted quota of 50 overs courtesy of Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s knock of 105 runs. Azmatullah Omarzai played a knock of unbeaten 86 from 50 deliveries.
In response, South Africa had a solid start of 73 runs for the opening wicket as the duo of Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi produced some brilliant strokes. However, the batter coming in after the fall of the first wicket departed back to the pavilion in quick succession. Rashid picked up five wickets while Nangeyalia Kharote scalped four wickets. Thus, South Africa were bundled out on 134 and conceded the second defeat in the series.
