After missing out on some crucial match time against New Zealand, Afghanistan face South Africa in a white-ball series in the UAE.
With the ODI series kicking off the tour, here’s our match preview and prediction for the first ODI.
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Afghanistan vs South Africa 1st ODI | South Africa tour of Afghanistan 2024 | 17:30 IST, 18 September 2024
South Africa face Afghanistan for the first time in a bilateral ODI series; their previous two ODI encounters came at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups. Temba Bavuma and his relatively young and inexperienced squad come to the Middle East for what should be a testing series for them.
While Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, and Tristan Stubbs have considerable white-ball experience compared to the rest of the squad, the skipper will expect them to step up in tricky conditions. With Kagiso Rabada rested, Lungi Ngidi will lead the Proteas bowling attack alongside Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, and the experienced Andile Phehlukwayo.
Afghanistan recently hosted Ireland in Sharjah for a three-match ODI series, which they won. While Rahmanullah Gurbaaz and Ibrahim Zadran, both of whom had a strong series with the bat, will be missing out this time, Afghanistan still have plenty of firepower and experience to take the fight to South Africa.
Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, and Hashmatullah Shahidi have tonnes of experience, while Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, and Rashid Khan are more than handy with both bat and ball. Fazalhaq Farooqi, who had a strong T20 World Cup earlier this year, will also be key for the Afghans.
Given the conditions, and the fact that the two did not play each other outside the World Cups till now, Afghanistan come into this game holding the slight edge in what should be an exciting and close encounter. With this being the first game of the ODI series, we expect some runs at the Sharjah strip, but since all three ODIs will take place here, expect the runs to dry down as the series ticks on.
Fantasy XI: Temba Bavuma, Rahmat Shah, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Mohammad Nabi, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Venue: Sharjah, UAE
Winners Prediction: Afghanistan
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