Ahmedabad: The spirited Afghanistan will take on rampaging South Africa in the 42nd match of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
With New Zealand's dominating win over Sri Lanka, Afghanistan are now eliminated from the tournament and will want to end their promising campaign on high note. South Africa, on the other hand, would look to get back to its winning ways after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of India and take the winning momentum with them to the semi-final encounter where they will face mighty Aussies.
Afghanistan have arguably been the surprise package of the tournament with four stirring triumphs that catapulted them to the brink of claiming a spot in the coveted knockout stages of the ICC event. Hashmatullah Shahidi's side looked favourites to clinch a critical fifth win in their last encounter until coming across Australia's Glenn Maxwell who played once in a lifetime innings to smash a maiden double ton denying the Afghans a win.
South Africa present a daunting challenge to the Afghanistan side as they have been surging with big hitting and mammoth totals. They have so far lost to Netherlands besides India.
Temba Bavuma's side have nothing to lose in the dead rubber and they would use this encounter to rediscover their batting form before they enter the second stage of the tournament, where a loss would result in a "knock out".
Squads
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper) , Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams.
Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wicketkeeper), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
AFG vs SA Head to Head World Cup records:
Matches Played: 1
South Africa won: 1
Afghanistan won: 0
Tied/ No result: 0
Interesting facts:
Afghanistan and India are the only two teams, which have not conceded 300+ runs in the tournament so far, while Pakistan and the Netherlands have conceded 300 + thrice, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka twice, and England and South Africa once.
Pitch report:
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is expected to offer a slight advantage to pacers. The larger boundary sizes allow bowlers to strategically utilise 'length' deliveries and exploit the field. There have been some decent scores made at the venue, while the bowlers have been able to keep the scoring rate under check. Out of three ODI matches played here in the ongoing tournament, never a side has been able to cross 300, which shows the balance the surface offers.
Weather report:
Weather in Ahmedabad are set to be Hazy, as there is a little possibility of rain forecast by the weather department. The maximum temperature expected is around 34 degrees and the mercury can dip to 18 degrees, later in the night. A windspeed of 5 km per hour and 60% of humidity is the expected forecast during the match.
Milestone alert:
1 - Quinton de Kock (499) is one grab away from reaching 500 catches across formats and become the only second South African and the sixth overall wicketkeeper to do achieve this feat.
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