🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #42: South Africa vs Afghanistan 🏏

Today's match is akin to a match between table toppers and skilled enthusiasts.

🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #42: South Africa vs Afghanistan 🏏

South Africa, already securing their place in the semi-finals, views this encounter against Afghanistan as valuable preparation for the challenges ahead in the knockout stages of the tournament.

With their form and spirits high, they aim to fine-tune their strategies and maintain their winning momentum.

On the other hand, Afghanistan finds itself on the brink of elimination in this prestigious cricket event. Although their chances of progressing to the semi-finals are slim, they approach this match with the determination to play for pride and bid farewell to the tournament on a high note.

South Africa will face Afghanistan in the 42nd match of the ODI World Cup 2023 today, November 10, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

It will be the last group game for both teams. South Africa, have qualified for the semi-finals, and the result of this game might not make a huge difference. A win for Afghanistan might help them seal the top four positions.

South Africa lost their last game against India by a significant margin of 243 runs. India posted 326 runs for the loss of five wickets in 50 overs. Virat Kohli made his 49th ODI century in this game. Shreyas Iyer made 77 runs off 87 deliveries. South Africa were bundled out for just 83 runs, and no batter managed to make more than 20 runs for the Proteas.

Afghanistan lost their previous game against Australia. Australia chased down the target of 292 runs in 46.5 overs. Glenn Maxwell played a heroic inning with 201 runs off 128 deliveries.

No other Australian batter managed to make more than 25 runs. Earlier, Ibrahim Zadran of Afghanistan became the first ever Afghan batter to make a century in the tournament. An interesting match today as well!

Pitch Report:

The pitches at this iconic venue have historically favored the batsmen, offering them a surface conducive to accumulating runs. However, there is a twist to the tale. The initial overs of the match could present challenges for the batters due to the pitch’s propensity to assist the seam bowlers. As the match unfolds, it will be a test of skill and adaptability for the players, providing fans with an enthralling spectacle.

What to expect: Plenty of dry heat, a touch of turn and not a lot of swing. Anticipate a first innings of around 280 - even England managed that - when the team in the field aren't India, who blitzed Pakistan for 191 here.

South Africa and Afghanistan have faced off only once in ODI cricket with the Proteas winning that match in the 2019 World Cup. “It’s been good to watch the Afghanistan group going the way that they have with the spinners that they’ve got, the batters up front, they’ve done really well. Their opening stands have been really good.

And then contributions throughout the innings is from the other batters,” Miller said about the Afghanistan team.

“They’re a really strong team, and hence, they have a chance to make the semifinals. So, it’s good to see. I mean, that’s the joys of World Cup.

You see different teams doing well, people that don’t necessarily rate a certain team exceeding in a certain phase of the World Cup. So, it’s great to see good for cricket,” he added.

Teams:

Afghanistan

Fazalhaq Farooqi could return at the expense of Noor Ahmad, although Mujeeb Ur Rahman might need compassionate leave in the wake of dropping Glenn Maxwell on 33 in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Tactics & strategy

A slow burn with the bat, a strong turn with the ball. The Afghans aren't flashy at the crease, but they have been solid enough after being dismissed for 156 by Bangladesh: 272/8 and 284 against India and England, both in Delhi, 291/5 against Australia at the Wankhede. Much has been made of their spinners, but the seamers have claimed 21 of the 48 wickets taken by the bowlers.

Probable XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Ikram Alikhil, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq

South Africa

Andile Phehlukwayo is the only member of the squad who has yet to play a game in this World Cup. That's an arbitrary fact, but the South Africans attracted unwanted attention - politically and otherwise - when Aaron Phangiso was the only one of their players who rode the bench throughout the 2015 edition.

Tactics & strategy

Bat first and bat big. There is no longer uncertainty over South Africa's preferred way of going about things. That doesn't mean they can't chase or that their quality attack can't hurt opposing line-ups if they field first, but they do better when the batters have already bullied a welt of runs into the scorebook.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee.

Did you know?

- Pace has taken almost double the number of wickets as spins—28 versus 15 - at this venue and at a better average—32.04 versus 37.93—during the World Cup.

- Pakistan and the Netherlands have conceded 300 in the tournament three times each, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka twice, and England and South Africa once. Afghanistan? Zero.

- Since these teams played their only ODI against each other at the 2019 World Cup, Afghanistan have won 43.90% of their matches in the format and South Africa 56.86%.

Thanks for the tag Madhu.

May the best team win.

I am in the middle of a wedding reception.

Cheers..

What they said:

"As a team we feel proud. We are happy with what we did in this World Cup. But, as a captain, I wanted and I expected more. We should have done better." -Hashmatullah Shahidi rues his team's squandered chance to beat Australia.

"It's just that it's being compared to what we have done batting first, which has been exceptional. We haven't been horrific chasing; it's one or two games where we've slipped up, which is part of the game." - David Miller doesn't believe South Africa are more beatable when they bat second.

Originally posted by: Savera84

Thanks for the tag Madhu.

May the best team win.

I am in the middle of a wedding reception.

Cheers..

This is a stage for cricket as spectacle, a place to come and bay for and against gladiators, and where the batting of an eyelid—much less a ball—can and will be analyzed by the 132,000 watching on the big screens until it has been drained of all meaning, real and imagined. Is it a place fit for a men's World Cup final, white-ball cricket's spectacle among spectacles? Indubitably.

Today it will be the scene of, comparatively, a much smaller deal. Afghanistan and South Africa will play their last league match of the tournament here. Barring events that would make Bollywood scriptwriters blanche in disbelief, the Afghans are going home. The South Africans have secured a semifinal against Australia at the Eden Gardens next Thursday!!