Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbeaten 97 scored Afghanistan’s 244 runs after winning the toss and batting against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final match.
After winning the toss and going into bat against the Proteas, the two Afghan openers played carefully from the start. He picked up 24 runs in the first five overs. Then they slowly try to come out of their shells. And then the fallout happens.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the victim of Keshav Maharaj’s team’s 41 runs. Gurbaz Keshav Maharaj, who scored 25 runs off 22 balls, was caught by Heinrich Klaasen and returned to the dugout. On his departure, the Afghan opening pair broke for 41 runs.
Another opener Ibrahim Zadran went back the way of Rahmanullah Gurbaz. After scoring 15 runs off 30 balls, Gerald Coetzee gave a catch to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock and went back to Sajghar. Afghans lost 2 wickets for 41 runs on his departure.
Hashmatullah Shahidi returned to Sajghar with 45 runs for the team, adding to the danger of the Afghans. He scored only 2 runs off 7 balls before getting out.
Rahmat Shah and Azmatullah Omarzai formed a partnership losing 3 wickets for 45 runs. However, this pair was broken by Rahmat Shah’s departure for the team’s 94 runs. He returned with 26 runs off 46 balls.
One side of the Afghan team was led by Azmatullah Omarzai but the other side was marching. Ikram Alikhil returned with 12 runs off 14 balls and Mohammad Nabi returned with 2 runs.
Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan took the lead of the Afghan team, which lost 6 wickets for 116 runs. 44 runs come from this pair. This pair was broken by Rashid Khan’s departure for the team’s 160 runs.
After the departure of Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai formed a pair with Noor Ahmed. 44 runs also come from this pair. This pair was broken when Noor Ahmed returned with 26 runs off 32 balls.
In the end, the Afghans were able to score 244 runs after losing all the wickets in 50 overs. Azmatullah Omarzai missed out on a personal century today by just three runs. In the end, he remained unbeaten on 93 runs.
(10 November/NBW)