Afghanistan eyes semi-finals, South Africa will try to overcome weaknesses
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When Afghanistan play their last league match of the World Cup on Friday, they will be looking to defeat another big team while South Africa will be trying to overcome their weaknesses while chasing the target. South Africa has reached the World Cup semi-finals along with India and Australia, so there is not much at stake for them in this match. With eight points, Afghanistan is in the race with Pakistan and New Zealand for fourth place. Now it will have to defeat South Africa at any cost to remain in the tournament. Afghanistan’s run rate is also worse compared to Pakistan and New Zealand, so they will have to hope to win by a big margin and the results of other matches to be favourable. Whatever may be the result of this match, Afghanistan has won everyone’s hearts with its brilliant performance.
He has won four out of eight matches. Now they are filled with confidence that when it is their day, they can defeat anyone. After defeating England and Pakistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s team almost defeated five-time champion Australia but Glenn Maxwell played a miraculous inning to ensure victory. Disappointed with this defeat, the Afghanistan team will now have to boost its morale afresh and give its best performance. Batting first, South Africa has performed best in this tournament, so Shahidi would like to send them to bowl first if they win the toss. South Africa’s weaknesses while chasing the target were exposed. Afghanistan’s strength has been its spin bowling but better performance will also be expected from the fast bowlers. Naveen Ul Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai have performed well with the new ball against Australia.
Afghanistan’s batsmen, who were the weak link till now, have also performed well. Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah and captain Shahidi know how to play according to the conditions. The team will be expecting a good performance from Rahmanullah Gurbaz while the experienced Mohammad Nabi has also not been able to impress with the bat. Quinton de Kock has scored a lot of runs for South Africa but captain Temba Bavuma has failed. He was out of two matches due to illness in which Reeza Hendricks performed brilliantly. It is not possible to drop the captain in the middle of the tournament but Bavuma must be feeling the pressure. They have a golden opportunity to get back into rhythm before the semi-finals. David Miller has not been seen in his usual form yet. Left-arm fast bowler Marco Jensen will have to work at economy rate.
Keshav Maharaj has handled the spin front well and now it remains to be seen whether another spinner is fielded in the form of Tabrez Shamsi or not. Teams: Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hasan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujibur Rahman, Noor Ahmed, Fazalhaq. Farooqui, Abdul Rehman and Navinul Haq. South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Rizie Hendricks, Marco Jensen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Reis van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams. Match time: 2 pm onwards.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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