PROTEAS FINALLY BEAT AFGHANISTAN AFTER TWO SUPER OVERS

THE Proteas prevailed in a double super over thriller as Afghanistan came up agonisingly short of a famous victory after their T20 World Cup clash ended in a tie on Wednesday.

Afghanistan were 187 all out after South Africa scored 187/6 in the Group D encounter in Ahmedabad.

The teams were tied again after a breathless first super over saw them both score 18, before the Proteas won off the final ball of a heart-thumping second sudden-death showdown.

After the Proteas klapped 23 from their second super over and Afghanistan lost a wicket off the second ball of theirs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was left needing four sixes off four balls for victory.

Gurbaz sensationally launched Keshav Maharaj into the crowd three times with some moerse blows.

A wide off the fifth ball meant Afghanistan still needed six to win but a four would have sent it, incredibly, to a third super over.

With nerves jangling and pulses racing, the left-arm spinner held his nerve to bowl a wide yorker that Gurbaz smacked into the grateful hands of David Miller at point as he looked to hit a boundary.

A few minutes earlier, after Gurbaz scored a brilliant 42-ball 84 in the chase, Afghanistan had needed 13 off the last over of the match to win with one wicket in hand.

After Kagiso Rabada bowled two no balls and a wide and Noor Ahmad hit a six, Afghanistan needed two to win off three balls.

But after Noor turned for the second run that would have won the match, Fazalhaq Farooqi was run out at the non-striker’s end and the scores were tied. SA pace bowler Lungi Ngidi was named player of the match after his 3/26 in four overs.

Quinton de Kock (59) and Ryan Rickelton (61) were the mainstays of the Proteas’ innings as they put on 114 for the second wicket.