‘Chalo fight dia accha’- Fans react as South Africa beat Afghanistan by 5 wickets in ODI World Cup 2023

South Africa beat Afghanistan by 5 wickets in the ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The Proteas already qualified for the semi-final and finished their last group game on a high note with a win. Afghanistan who have been the dark horse has really impressed the teams with their performances as they have shown good fighting spirits and won 4 games in the tournament. They have also secured a place in the 2025 Champions Trophy for the first time.

Afghanistan skipper Hashmatuulah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first. The Afghan openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave them a decent start. But the latter was the first one to be back to the pavilion. He was dismissed by Kehsav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner who has bowled really well in the tournament so far. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were struggling for 94/4 at one stage.

Gerald Coetzee, who had been dropped for the match against India, was the pick of the bowlers for his side. The 23-year-old pacer had performed excellently as he picked four wickets in the match and 18 wickets in just 7 games in the tournament so far. The Proteas bundled them in 244 runs. 

Azamtullah Omarzarai’s fight goes in vain 

After the openers were back in the pavilion no other Afghan batters were able to go past 25 runs. But Azamtullah Omarzarai who played a sensational unbeaten knock of 97 runs helped the Afghans go past 200 runs as they were struggling at 160/7 at one stage. Noor Ahmed gave some valuable support to the batter as he scored 26 runs towards the end and made sure they posted a defendable target of 245 runs.

In reply, Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma started off well building a 64-run partnership for the first wicket. But after the openers were back in the dugout they were put into pressure. But Rassie van der Dussen who is having a good form made sure that his team is through easily in the run chase. He played an unbeaten knock of 76 runs and sealed his team through.

Here’s how fans reacted