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Afghanistan have made a massive statement with their impressive 2023 ODI World Cup campaign under Hashmatullah Shahidi. While the Afghans' ambitions of making it to the semi-finals have been quashed, they can leave things on a high with a spirited performance against South Africa.
The two sides are scheduled to face each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. The Proteas will also be on the lookout to finish the league stage on a high and head into their semi-final contest against Australia.
Afghanistan do not have much baggage coming into the clash as they have already secured qualification into the Champions Trophy for the very first time in their history. They won hearts after giving the mighty Australians a huge scare in their league-stage meeting recently, but they still need work on finishing their opponents off after pushing them onto the ropes.
On that note, let us take a look at three things Afghanistan must do right to beat South Africa in the 2023 World Cup clash.
#1 Starve off Marco Jansen with the new ball
Team India showcased a brilliant template to negate Marco Jansen's threat with the new ball. The left-arm pacer has been instrumental for the Proteas with his ability to move the ball and chip in with early wickets.
An aggressive batter like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is in search of some runs of late, can look to take on Jansen in the early overs and take his side to a positive start. It is arguably easier said than done, with the venue offering some assistance for the new ball bowlers, especially under the lights.
Skipper Temba Bavuma ideally would love for Jansen to bowl a long spell at the start but will be forced to make an early bowling change if the pacer proves to be ineffective. There have been calls to give Kagiso Rabada the new ball, instead of Lungi Ngidi, and it might be interesting to see how Afghanistan cope with the same.
In terms of South Africa's middle-overs bowling, their approach will depend heavily on who plays between Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi. The latter has been preferred on venues with spin assistance, and the in-form Afghanistan middle order will relish the challenge posed by the extra pacer or extra spinner either way.
#2 Dominate the proceedings with spin across all three powerplays
Spinners had a massive say in the previous contest held at the venue, particularly the frontline leg-spinners. Adil Rashid and Adam Zampa ended with figures of 2-38 and 3-21 off their 10 overs in Australia's win over England recently.
If the surface plays on a similar note, then it brings the Afghanistan spinners into play. The Afghans made a huge call by playing four spinners at the Wankhede Stadium against Australia and might go in with the same playing XI for the clash against South Africa as well. The prospect of bringing back Fazalhaq Farooqi is also an enticing one.
Temba Bavuma has had his issues with spin bowling and is low on confidence with the bat at the moment. His matchup against Mujeeb-ur-Rahman's new ball bowling will be one to watch out for. However, the biggest match-up on paper has to be Heinrich Klaasen up against Rashid Khan.
The South African middle-order batter is arguably in the form of his life and is an excellent player of spin. He took down Rashid Khan for 26 runs in an over during a contest between the Seattle Orcas and the MI New York in the MLC 2023, a few months back.
Although the circumstances are different this time around, the result of the matchup could play a huge role in the contest's ultimate fate.
#3 Capitalize on South Africa's chasing woes
Barring New Zealand's freak chase against England in the opening contest of the 2023 ODI World Cup, chasing competitive scores has not been the easiest of tasks at the venue. From a purely tactical point of view, both captains will be looking to bat first and post a huge score on the board.
In case Afghanistan manage to do that, they will have almost wrapped up the contest in the first innings itself. South Africa's woes while chasing in ODIs have been well documented.
In the World Cup, both their losses against the Netherlands and India have come while attempting to chase down the score. Even in the successful run chase against Pakistan, they made a mess of it in the final overs and managed to win by just a wicket.
A combination of early wickets with the new ball and containing the middle order with spin could lead to South Africa faltering in the run chase.
Will Afghanistan script yet another memorable win to wrap up their 2023 ODI World Cup campaign on a high? Let us know what you think.
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