Afghanistan Vs South Africa Twenty20 world cup match
South Africa also known as the most underachieving team in world cricket find themselves in a position where they have to beat the fairytale in international cricket known as Afghanistan, in order to make it through to the super 8 stage of the world t20 championship. They were beaten in a one sided match against India, which was Proteas first match of the tournament. Given the uncertain nature of the game and the Caribbean weather, South Africa would have to keep an eye not only on their opponents but also the skies up above.
Afghanistan may bring some additional enforcement from Duckworth and Lewis. D/L method has already determined number of games in this T20 world cup.
As south Africa and Afghanistan go out to battle in the 2nd match of the day, no doubt that both the teams will be keeping a close eye on the first game of the day between Australia and Bangladesh to assess the pitch and ground conditions.
Afghanistan’s rise in international cricket is nothing short of a fairytale , a country ravage with war for decades, lack of or virtually no sporting facilities for the players, and yet there you have 15 men in the Caribbean representing their country in one of the biggest cricketing events. Afghans started right from the bottom tier of International cricket, and had a long long journey ahead of them before making it to this stage. The resilient Afghans stuck to their task, which took them all around the world, from Argentina to Ireland and to Dubai , and many other member nations were in their way before they were actually given a right to mix it with the big boys of world cricket. Now that they have made it this far, they will definitely not go down without a fight.
In their first match against India the Afghans did look taken back by the pure impact of occasion and were in their shells for most of the match. The aggression and natural flair which has got them this far was nowhere to be seen. Apart from Ali, rest of the batting was not up to par facing one of the top notch attacks in world cricket. Their bowling was utterly below par, with no strategy and technique but one thing is for sure they do have the talent.
Today’s match is a must win for both the teams after both suffered defeats at the hands of 2007 t20 world champions India. South Africa though should be considered comfortable winners, but once again the game of cricket and on top of that the format of t20 with Duckworth and Lewis around the corner; anything can happen. Let’s see if the most powerfully fairytale in cricket’s history can come true, let’s see if South Africa chocks one more time.
Click here to Read, Afghanistan’s World Twenty20 fairytale marks rise of a cricketing nation
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