Afghanistan's big bang before the Champions Trophy, created history by crushing South Africa for the first time

A three-match bilateral ODI series between Afghanistan and South Africa is going on in Sharjah. In the first match of this bilateral series, the Afghan bowlers performed brilliantly and bundled out South Africa for just 106 runs and then created history by achieving the target in 26 overs. This brilliant performance has rung the alarm bells for teams gearing up for the next ICC Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in 2025. Be it after destroying the South African batting line-up, it depicts that Afghan bowlers are able to bring defeat to any team.

This is a first for Afghanistan, registering their first-ever victory over South Africa by bowling them out in a white-ball game. In this match, the first wicket of South Africa fell for 17 runs, after which such a collapse took place that the score went to 36/7 in the 10th over. The African batsmen were admitted to the Afghan attack. There was one time when it seemed impossible to get even 50 runs. However, the team got to a score of 106 runs in 33.3 overs.

Afghan bowlers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Izharul Haq Gazanfar were the chief operatives of South Africa's defeat, taking crucial wickets back-to-back. Fazalhaq Farooqi took four wickets while Izharul Haq Gazanfar took three wickets. Meanwhile, Wiaan Mulder was the only batsman from South Africa who scored a half-century.

This was a strong performance of the Afghanistan bowling unit that speaks volumes of their growth as a team on the international stage. Beating a top-class team like South Africa shows that they will be serious contenders in the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan has won in all three formats for the first time against South Africa. Earlier, 3 T20 and 2 ODI matches were played between the two, all of which were won by South Africa. Afghanistan has now turned history around by defeating South Africa.