South Africa beat Afghanistan in T20 World Cup 2026 game in Ahmedabad (Source: AFP)
SA vs AFG Highlights: South Africa held the nerves to beat Afghanistan by four runs in the edge of a seat thriller at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday in T20 World Cup 2026. The Ahmedabad thriller happened to be the first-ever game in the entire T20 World Cup history that concluded with two super overs.
Speaking of the action of the game, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and asked the Proteas to bat first. After losing Aiden Markram (5) early in the third over, South Africa's wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock (59) and Ryan Rickelton stitched a stabilizing partnership of 114 runs for the second wicket.
Rashid Khan broke this partnership in the 13th over, dismissing De Kock on the fourth ball of the over. In the same over, Rashid also dismised Ryan Rickelton (61 runs off just 28 balls, with five fours and four sixes) to give another blow to the Proteas.
Later in the innings, Dewald Brevis (23) and David Milller (20), followed by Marco Jansen's 7-ball 16 helped South Africa to post 187 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai scalped three wickets, alongside two wickets picked by Rashid Khan. Besides these two, Fazalhaq Farooqi claimed a wicket for 32 runs in his four overs.
SA vs AFG: Afghanistan execute a stunning tie after middle-order fumble
While chasing the target in SA vs AFG game, the Afghanistan had a swashbuckling start of 51 runs in just 4.2 overs by the opening pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. After losing his partner, Gurbaz continued hitting runs with the same acceleration and went on to smash 84 runs off just 42 balls, with a strike rate of 200.00, hitting four fours and seven sixes.
Gurbaz's valiant knock came to an end in the 13th over when Afghanistan had scored 121 runs in 12.2 overs. The Afghan opener was caught at the short third man off Keshav Maharaj on the third ball of the over. Following Gurbaz's dismissal, Afghanistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals which seemed to push them away from the target.
Nevertheless, the contributions of Azmatullah Omarzai (22), Rashid Khan (20), and Noor Ahmad (15) took the game to the last over. Kagiso Rabada's poor outing in the last over of the game pushed the game towards a tie as Rashid Khan's men were bundled out at 187 runs in 19.4 overs. Eventually, the game ended in a thrilling tie, succeeding into a super over.
Lungi Ngidi three wickets, alongside a wicket each picked by Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, George Linde, and Keshav Maharaj.
South Africa get last laugh after thrilling theatrics in double super-over
In the first super over, Rashid Khan sent Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Azmatullah Omarzai to take charge. Omarzai smashed 16 runs in the first over, including a run scored by Gurbaz. Afghanistan ended up scoring 17 runs in the first super over.
Afghan skipper Rashid Khan introduced Fazalhaq Farooqi to defend these 17 runs in the first super over. Farooqi held the nerves for the first five balls, conceding just 11 runs and claiming the wicket of Dewald Brevis on the third ball of the over. But it was the last ball of the super over when Stubbs smashed a six at long-off to push the match into the second super over.
Later in the second super over, the David Miller-Tristan Stubbs duo smashed 23 runs for South Africa, posting a big target to chase for Afghanistan. While chasing the target in the second super over, Rashid and Co. faced a severe blow as they lost Mohammad Nabi on the second ball after the first ball going without any runs.
In what came to a suprise for South Africa and everyone following this SA vs AFG game across the cricketing world, Gurbaz smashed three succssive sixes off next three balls at the time when they needed six off every ball to win the game. Last ball was left with six runs to win for Afghanistan and a wicket to win for South Africa.
But the wait increased for fans as Keshav Maharaj bowled a wide delivery to Gurbaz. On the last ball of the super over, Maharaj trapped Gurbaz at point, where the latter was caught. Eventually, South Africa ended the game with last laugh, registering a thrilling win by four runs to clinch their second win in the tournament.
SA vs AFG thriller almost clears qualification picture in Group D
The astonishing SA vs AFG double super-over thriller in Ahmedabad has almost cleared the qualification scenario in the tournament's Group D. Now, the table toppers, New Zealand and number two, South Africa have two successive wins each in their first two games so far.
Now, if any one of New Zealand and South Africa win their next game, they will secure a sport in the super-eight stage. Speaking of Afghanistan, the chances are now very slim for them after facing a defeat in the SA vs AFG game in Ahmeabadad.
With two defeats in two consecutive games, Afghanistan now need a stastistical magic to turn around the fortune in their favour.
