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Rashid Khan delivered an outstanding performance for Afghanistan in the second ODI against South Africa in Sharjah. He took five wickets, making him the first cricketer in 53 years of ODI history to achieve this feat on his birthday. Afghanistan restricted South Africa to a modest score of 134 while defending a total of 311. Rashid's superb bowling helped Afghanistan secure their first-ever ODI series triumph against South Africa, winning the second match by a massive 177-run margin, which is their biggest victory in ODIs. Afghanistan had won the first match as well, giving them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Afghanistan posted a challenging total of 311 runs in 50 overs. In response, South Africa failed to capitalize on a strong 73-run opening partnership, and their middle and lower order collapsed, leading to them being bowled out for 134 runs in 34.2 overs. This resulted in a massive defeat for South Africa, with around 15 overs to spare. Rashid Khan had impressive bowling figures of 9-1-19-5, while Nangeyalia Kharote took 5-19 runs, contributing to Afghanistan's dominant victory. Afghanistan's captain Hashmatullah Shahidi opted to bat first, and Gurbaz scored his seventh century in ODIs, breaking the record for most centuries by an Afghanistan batter. Gurbaz shared an 88-run partnership with Riaz Hassan (29) for the first wicket and a 101-run partnership with Rahman (50) for the second wicket. Gurbaz reached his century off 107 balls, hitting 10 boundaries and 3 sixes, before being dismissed by Nandre Burget.
Azmatullah Omarzai then took charge of scoring for Afghanistan, blasting an unbeaten 86 from 50 balls, smashing 5 fours and 6 huge sixes, propelling Afghanistan's total. Chasing 312, South Africa had a solid start, with captain Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi taking them to 73 runs in 14 overs. Bavuma scored 38 from 47 deliveries, hitting 4 fours and 1 six, while de Zorzi contributed 31 runs from 44 balls. After Reeza Hendriks (17) and Aiden Markram (21) helped South Africa reach 103/4 in the 24th over, Cristan Stubbs was dismissed for 5. They then struggled, with experienced spinner Rashid Khan and left-arm spinner's figures of 6.2 overs resulting in a cautious phase.