World Cup: Rassie van der Dussen the star as South Africa huff and puff to five-wicket victory against Afghanistan

AHMEDABAD: If South Africa were looking to correct an anomaly in their current World Cup campaign, the contest against Afghanistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday allowed them to tick an important box: ace a chase. At 182-5 after 37.1 overs in pursuit of 245, South Africa seemed to be in a familiar spot of bother. This was followed by 45 boundary-less balls.The perennial ghosts of chasing were hanging like a sword over their head. With allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo struggling for timing and unable to rotate the strike regularly along with Rassie van der Dussen, it seemed like they had bottled up another run chase.
But, once the southpaw struck pacer Naveenul-Haq for a six over mid-off in the 46th over, the shackles were broken. He smashed the pacer for two more sixes and a boundary to finish the chase off in style with five wickets in hand and 15 balls remaining. Giving him company at the other end was Van der Dussen who showed what South Africa had been missing in chases: a calm head. His unbeaten 76 (95b; 4x6, 6x1) was the cornerstone of South African innings as other batters batted aggressively around him.

Openers Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, who suffered a niggle while fielding, had given South Africa a brisk start of 64. De Kock (41) hit three sublimely timed sixes but was undone by a quicker Mohammad Nabi delivery to be trapped in front. Bavuma (23) too holed out at mid-wicket off Mujeeb Ur Rehman.
The job to rebuild the innings was left to Aiden Markram (25) and Van der Dussen, and the duo added 50 for the third wicket before the former was caught at cover off a leading edge of a quick Rashid Khan delivery. Khan then produced another quick ball to castle the dangerous Heinrich Klassen for 10. The match was evenly poised but David Miller and Van der Dussen avoided any further collapse by adding 43 runs for the fifth wicket. Miller’s tame dismissal — caught and bowled by Nabi — brought Phehlukwayo to the wicket. Despite his initial struggles, he and Van der Dussen took South Africa home.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Afghanistan were grateful to Azmatullah Omarzai, whose dogged, unbeaten knock of 97 (107b; 4x7, 6x3) pulled them out of the woods. From a precarious 116/6, he along with Rashid Khan (14) and Noor Ahmad (26) dragged Afghanistan to a respectable 244, a total that demonstrated the rapid strides Afghanistan have taken.
For South Africa, pacer Gerald Coetzee, who replaced Marco Jansen, hit the deck hard and shone with 4/44.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (25) and Ibrahim Zadran (15) started well for Afghanistan, racing to 41 in eight overs. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, however, altered the course of the innings. He turned the first ball and Gurbaz could only edge him to Heinrich Klassen at slip. From the other end, Coetzee got Zadran. Rahmat Shah (26) and Omarzai resurrected the innings before the former was caught at point by David Miller of Lungi Ngidi. At 94 for 4, Afghanistan were struggling, but then they had Omarzai.