Afghanistan get ready for Champions Trophy 2025 with a historic series win against South Africa
Afghanistan firm in form with major tournament on the horizon by claiming arguably their biggest series win, and with a young batter leading the way.
On the road to Champions Trophy 2025, Afghanistan have put the cricket world on notice, claiming their first-ever series win over a top-five ICC-ranked side (South Africa) in the UAE.
The Blue Tigers claimed matches one and two in convincing fashion to take the Sharjah series bragging rights, winning the matches by six wickets (and with 144 balls to spare) and 177 runs respectively, bowling out the Proteas for scores of 106 and 134. South Africa would go on to claim the third match in consolation, chasing down a target of just 170.
South Africa (ranked third) are Afghanistan's biggest catch in ODIs, with their 13 bilateral ODI series previously coming against Zimbabwe (5), Ireland (4), Scotland (2), Bangladesh and The Netherlands (one each).
It was again young batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who stood up for Afghanistan, whose early career start has record-keepers checking their books.
The 22-year-old made 105 and 89 in matches two and three, ending the series as the most prolific batter even with a duck in the first match. The century, his seventh in ODIs, puts him level with Virat Kohli for equal third-most hundreds in the format scored before turning 23, and only bettered by Sachin Tendulkar and Quinton de Kock (eight apiece).
Watch more of Rahmanullah Gurbaz from CWC23 here:
A key figure in Afghanistan's fabled Cricket World Cup 2023 run, it's beginning to look like his class is permanent - only three batters needed fewer innings to reach seven ODI centuries - Babar Azam (33), Imam-ul-Haq (36) and Hashim Amla (41).
Unsurprisingly, it was a returning Rashid Khan who spearheaded the Afghan bowling attack, taking a series high of seven wickets (at an average of 7.00) even after missing the third match with a tight hamstring.
The Afghans are ninth on the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings, with a rating of 82, fractionally behind Bangladesh (86).
Afghanistan meet South Africa again in their Champions Trophy group, alongside Australia and England from mid-February
Main image credit: Afghanistan Cricket Board