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Left-arm spinner shines at a time when the tour had threatened to come off the rails for his team

Andrew McGlashan01-Mar-20232:11

Chappell: Kuhnemann learnt from the second Test and bowled better

Whatever way Matt Kuhnemann’s Test career goes from here, he’s going to have some good stories to tell.While the first Test of this series was taking place he was playing for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield. Then he jumps on a plane and a few days later is making his debut in Delhi and taking the new ball. Virat Kohli becomes his first Test wicket.On the first day in Indore he held the ball aloft as he walked from the field, barely two-and-a-half hours after India’s innings had started, with the extraordinary figures of 5 for 16 from nine overs – a first-class career-best. His dad had reached the ground just in time to see the fifth wicket after lunch having missed the first session.Related

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At times Australia have tied themselves in knots over their desire to have a left-arm spinner in the side and their handling of Ashton Agar was a curious sequence of his events. When Mitchell Swepson is available for Queensland, Kuhnemann can’t make their Sheffield Shield side, but he was ideal for this devilish surface, which has even left India unimpressed with how much it offered on day one, and he troubled the right-handers in what was an uplifting performance for Australia on a tour that had threatened to come off the rails.”It’s been a whirlwind,” Kuhnemann said of the rapid elevation, whose ODI debut came in similar fashion in Sri Lanka last year. “Like every night I’m sort of just pinching myself. Even today just sitting in the change room, just looking around speaking to [Mitchell] Starcy and Nathan Lyon and thinking this is unreal, just be able to do this. To even go out there and play with Steve Smith and all these other players and contribute to the team, it’s really awesome.”Kuhnemann played a key role in getting Australia into this game after heads could have gone down. They lost the toss on a bone-dry pitch then saw Rohit Sharma nick the cover off the first ball of the game, only they didn’t review. When replays showed, somewhat surprisingly, that India’s captain had also survived an lbw in the same over, Smith could have been forgiven for worrying how events would transpire.Matt Kuhnemann picked up his first five-wicket haul in Tests•BCCIIt was vital for Australia’s peace of mind that they removed Rohit without too much damage after the missed reviews. Smith turned to spin in the sixth over after the brief, rare sight of two quicks in operation as the recalled duo of Starc and Cameron Green took the new ball. There is little chance of either of them being over-bowled on their comebacks.Kuhnemann’s third ball spun sharply past Rohit’s edge and the next turned and bounced to defeat a slog sweep. The straight boundaries at the Holkar Stadium are enticingly short and Rohit could not resist, skipping down and being defeated by more huge spin to present Alex Carey a stumping.In his next over, Kuhnemann produced a perfect left-arm spinner’s dismissal when he drew a skittish Shubman Gill forward and found the outside edge. It felt like every ball could be a wicket-taking opportunity. Two deliveries after dismissing Gill, Kuhnemann produced one that was full at leg stump and spun square past Kohli.On a pitch turning more than anything he had seen before, he kept it simple and let the surface play the tricks. “Nathan Lyon was excellent out there,” Kuhnemann said. “Even after a couple of wickets he said don’t get ahead of yourself, just think about bowling that ball…he was great for me. Not every day you get these wickets like so enjoy them, it’s very different to what we get back home in Australia.”Meanwhile, there was little Cheteshwar Pujara could do about his delivery from Lyon which spun sharply and kept low. Given the conditions, Kohli was constructing a superb innings before he was dismissed by Todd Murphy for the third time in the series, an offbreak straightening perfectly from round the wicket to win the lbw.It was a little surprising when Kuhnemann was taken out of the attack with figures of 5-0-13-3 – Shreyas Iyer having dragged on – although Smith was proactive in switching the spinners around depending on the right and left-hand batters. But after lunch his fourth wicket came when R Ashwin edged a full delivery, and the fifth arrived when one skidded into Umesh Yadav’s pads.Although it’s all relative in an innings that lasted 33.2 overs of which he bowled nine, Kuhnemann said he had implemented some subtle changes as the ball got older having watched how Ravindra Jadeja operated in Delhi.”I’m a massive fan of Jadeja and Ashwin so watched how they have bowled in the last few years,” he said. “The way [Jadeja] uses his crease and probably the biggest thing I picked up in Delhi is that he brings his length back a little bit when the ball gets a little bit older. That’s probably the main thing I brought into this Test. Don’t want to get full especially on a wicket that stays low, being consistent on that five-six metre length.”By stumps, Jadeja himself had four to his name – all Australia’s wickets to fall – to take his series haul to 21, and with India bowling last he could yet be the left-arm spinner to have the decisive say on this game. However, Australia are well placed to prevent that happening. It would be a remarkable turnaround, and Kuhnemann would be a big part of the story.

The first season has had several examples of domestic talent benefitting from exposure to the international stage, and this is just the beginning

Zenia D'cunha25-Mar-2023UP Warriorz left-arm seamer Anjali Sarvani made her India debut against Australia in December, and was also part of the T20 World Cup squad last month. But it is an interaction with her bowling coach in the Women’s Premier League that she feels has made a dramatic improvement in her skills.”Ash [Ashley Noffke] has given me a solid tip about my bowling action, a little thing which made a huge difference within one game,” Sarvani tells ESPNcricinfo. “The WPL is a stepping stone to a new version of me. In the World Cup I didn’t get a chance, this is a huge opportunity to learn and get more opportunities with the Indian team as well.”Sarvani’s experience is not unique; there have been plenty of similar stories during the inaugural WPL.Twenty-year-old Shreyanka Patil, an allrounder who bowls offspin, did not have the freedom to set her own fields before she came to Royal Challengers Bangalore. “In domestic cricket, spinners are often told to bowl on one side of the wicket and flight the ball, and because there’s no pace the concept of short third or short fine mostly doesn’t exist,” she said. “I tried to challenge that norm and I got support from my coaches. So when I joined the RCB camp and implemented these learnings at training and in our practice matches, the coaches were happy. [Mike] Hesson sir said I’ve come prepared.”Jasia Akhtar, the 34-year-old domestic veteran from Kashmir, hasn’t played a game for Delhi Capitals yet, but says that sharing a dressing room with Meg Lanning and listening to her perspective on success and failure has been an eye-opening experience.The performance of the WPL will have tangible measures such as money spent on media rights and franchises, player salaries, television and digital viewership, and in-stadium attendances, but the intangibles – such as the learning experiences of young and unheralded Indian cricketers – are just as valuable.Shreyanka Patil – Sophie Devine reckons it’s only a matter of time before she plays for India•BCCIOne of the purposes of the WPL is to provide a platform for domestic cricketers to learn and shine, to be a launchpad for young talent, a finishing school for the more experienced. To build depth for women’s cricket in India, a bit like what the Women’s Big Bash League did in Australia. And the stories that have emerged from the first season are promising.Mumbai Indians’ Saika Ishaque, the second highest wicket-taker, is one of the finds of the tournament. She’s been on the domestic circuit for nearly a decade, striving in obscurity to make the state team for Bengal after an injury setback. At 27, hopes of playing for India would have seemed so distant, but not after bowling with discipline and courage on a global stage, and picking up the wickets of Lanning, Sophie Devine, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Jemimah Rodrigues. , she famously quipped while getting the purple cap. [I’m a bowler. I’m here to take wickets]Related

• 'Keep calm and no need to do anything special' – How Saika Ishaque bossed the WPL last year

• Ishaque, Chopra, Patil – New faces make a mark in WPL team of the tournament

• What has the WPL changed for women's cricket in India?

• Mumbai Indians, the maximum team of the WPL

• Harmanpreet breaks knockout curse and Lanning's challenge to cap off fitting WPL finale

Where else could a 20-year-old uncapped Indian cricketer from Punjab listen to one of the greatest to have played the game, get inspired, and help her struggling team end a run of five straight losses? That’s what Kanika Ahuja did for RCB after hearing Virat Kohli tell them: “It is not pressure but pleasure to get a chance to play here.”UP’s Parshavi Chopra, all of 16, is already an Under-19 World Cup champion, but to make her mark among proven international spinners is arguably a greater achievement. Her dismissal of Ashleigh Gardner, the Player of the Tournament at the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, is one of the moments of this WPL. And when Sophie Ecclestone, the top ranked bowler in women’s T20Is, says Chopra is a game-changer, you know she’s one to watch out for.Simran Shaikh, a 21-year-old from Mumbai playing for UP Warriorz, says she learned new techniques to improve her fielding. “My fielding is something that I have improved upon a lot. I implemented the techniques the coaches said and did things I have not done before,” she tells ESPNcricinfo. “The seniors and coaches would teach me how to throw correctly and share tips.”Listening to Virat Kohli helped Kanika Ahuja end RCB’s winless run in the WPL•BCCIThe impact of interacting with elite international players goes beyond technical skills, too. “I’ve often heard that foreign players have strong mindset but it’s only when I came here and interacted with them that I understood just how mentally strong they are,” Akhtar says. “They don’t panic easily if they are hit for boundaries, they play simple cricket and stick to their strength. We domestic players don’t get a lot of chances to play with senior India players also. I am from Kashmir [though she plays for Rajasthan] and very few know cricket there. While I was playing I didn’t know how to deal with pressure but that’s what we are learning here.”Eight league matches per team in a little over three weeks, several training sessions, and more offline interactions – the WPL has provided an intense learning environment unlike any other for its participants. Now imagine some of the knowledge and work ethic absorbed percolating to domestic teams through players who have been part of the WPL. And the impact this knowledge transfer will have as it builds over seasons.This is part of the reason that UP coach Jon Lewis, a former England fast bowler, persisted with Indian youngsters in his team. “There are two parts to my job here, one is to win games and the other is to develop young Indian cricketers,” he says. “The fact that we are able to put a 16-year-old legspinner [Chopra] and 18-year-old fast bowler [Soppadhandi Yashasri] out should be celebrated. This competition is all about growing young Indian cricketers and giving them an experience.”It’s a sentiment shared by Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy and they walked the talk. They stuck with Simran and Kiran Navgire, gave chances to India’s Under-19 World Cup winners Shweta Sehrawat and Chopra, as well as Yashasri in the final league game. They may have lost the Eliminator, but the fact that they made the knockouts while giving all these players chances is noteworthy.16-year-old Parshavi Chopra was a star for UP Warriorz•BCCICapitals, on the other hand, played just one uncapped Indian in nine matches: Minnu Mani, who comes from the Kurichiya tribe in the Wayanad district of Kerala, got two games. They chose to field the fifth overseas player from an Associate nation – USA’s Tara Norris – and finished top of the table. Hopefully the likes of Titas Sadhu, the U-19 pace sensation, Sneha Deepthi, the only Indian mother in the WPL, and Akhtar will get their chances next year.For RCB, the growth of their young players was a silver lining in a forgettable campaign. They fielded the most uncapped Indians, a consequence of their horrendous start to the season, but one of them – Patil – was so impressive that Sophie Devine said it was a matter of time before she plays for India. At Gujarat Giants, Dayalan Hemalatha finished the season with their second best strike rate, while 24-year-old Harleen Deol was their second-highest run-scorer and in contention for the emerging player of the tournament.Only the grand final remains, and then the players will go their separate ways, taking with them the wealth – both material and intellectual – earned over these three weeks to further their careers. As the WPL’s theme song says: [This is just the beginning.]

New Zealand haven’t beaten Bangladesh at their backyard in 13 years, and will aim to do so without several of their heavy-hitters

Mohammad Isam20-Sep-2023

New Zealand bring one-third of their World Cup team

New Zealand have sent only five World Cup-bound players to Bangladesh. Lockie Ferguson leads the side that also includes Trent Boult, Rachin Ravindra, Ish Sodhi and Will Young.Related

• Sriram returns as Bangladesh's technical consultant ahead of World Cup

• Stand-in captains blank out the past as they look to the future

• Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah return for New Zealand series; Shakib among those rested

• Bangladesh's unlikely heroes step up as race for World Cup spots heat up

• Southee fractures bone in right thumb during Lord's ODI

Boult returned to ODIs this year only last week when he played against England, and was later picked in their World Cup squad. Ravindra has impressed as an allrounder in 2023, taking 11 wickets while scoring 179 runs at 29.83 average. Sodhi has taken seven wickets in nine games this year while Young is their second-highest scorer in ODIs in 2023.Ferguson’s choice as captain is an interesting one as he has only led in one game in his competitive cricket career – a warm-up T20 between New Zealand and Gloucestershire last month.Dean Foxcroft is the only uncapped cricketer in the squad while Dane Cleaver’s only ODI appearance was in July last year. The rest of the squad has been involved in ODIs this year.Tamim Iqbal is back in the ODI side after reversing his decision to retire in July•AFP via Getty Images

Hosts bring back the stalwarts

Bangladesh have rested several of their World Cup squad members including captain Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and the pace trio of Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mamhud and Shoriful Islam have also been given a break. But, they have dropped Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain and Mohammad Naim from the Asia Cup squad.Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah have returned to the ODI side. Tamim reversed his retirement decision in July, but quit the ODI captaincy last month. He missed the Asia Cup due to his injuries but has since recovered well for the New Zealand series.Bangladesh have also called up wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, and the uncapped trio of Zakir Hasan, Rishad Hossain and Khaled Ahmed. The biggest surprise is Soumya Sarkar’s inclusion, as the left-handed batter had hardly done much in the two-and-a-half years out of the ODI setup.

Bilateral relevance

Often, these bilateral ODI series have little meaning. The hype ahead of the World Cup, however, has turned it into a necessary encounter between two teams who could take a second look at their backups. New Zealand are still waiting on Tim Southee’s availability for the World Cup. The fast bowler will undergo surgery on Thursday for the thumb injury he sustained against England last week but New Zealand remain hopeful that he will recover in time for the marquee event.Bangladesh, too, have plenty to ponder as they are without the injured Najmul Hossain Shanto and Ebadot Hossain. Shanto could return in time for the World Cup but Ebadot is out for a long period. They need to find a backup at No. 3, while one of the fast bowlers must grab Ebadot’s place and replicate his performance.New Zealand have a notoriously poor record in Bangladesh•BCB

New Zealand’s poor record in Bangladesh

Bangladesh are on a long unbeaten run against New Zealand at home. They won 4-0 in 2010 and 3-0 in 2013, leaving the visitors with just one win in eight outings in Bangladesh. That came in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals against South Africa. Bangladesh also beat New Zealand 3-2 in a bilateral T20I series in 2021, although that touring team from New Zealand also bore a similar experimental look.

Pace and bounce in Mirpur?

Bangladesh have preferred the more batting-friendly pitches of Chattogram and Sylhet for home ODIs in the last two years. Shere Bangla National Stadium’s reputation as the spin bastion changed slightly during the Afghanistan Test in June this year when the fast bowlers took 14 wickets. The ground average for the side batting first in a day-night game is a surprising 254 in the last seven ODIs here. On five of these occasions, the team batting first has won the game too.A bit of pace and bounce won’t be surprising in Dhaka this time as well. The weather, though, could be a concern as rain is in the forecast for all three ODIs.

Where the India vs New Zealand game could be won and lost

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2023

The Powerplay face-off

The semi-final of the 2019 World Cup, in which New Zealand beat India by 18 runs, was pretty much decided in the powerplay. India were 5 for 3 in the fourth over making it hard for them to chase down the target of 240 set by New Zealand.This could be one of the biggest challenges for the Indian batters on Sunday. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill have not been able to dominate the opening pair of Trent Boult and Matt Henry. India’s batters have not faced them in ODIs since that semi-final four years ago, so how they take these two bowlers on in Dharamsala will set the tone for the rest of the innings.

Fielding on winning the toss, as captains did repeatedly at the end of the Sheffield Shield recently, almost never makes for a good strategy

Ian Chappell07-Apr-2024It’s becoming a trend – certainly in Australia – for the captain winning the toss to send the opposition in to bat.It happened on every occasion in the last seven Sheffield Shield matches of the season, including the final. Then, in a rather worrying imitation, it occurred all six times in the Sydney first grade finals. As talented English actress Emma Thompson shrewdly observed in a recent movie, “There are a lot of sheep out there dressed in human clothing.”The idea of regularly winning the toss and inserting the opposition in important matches often lacks common sense and makes one wonder whose decision it is.
Is it the captain alone deciding to bowl first or is he being ill-advised by the backroom hierarchy? Or is it a trend that has developed from T20 cricket, where it’s helpful to know the target?Related

• Faf du Plessis suggests doing away with the toss in Test cricket (2019)

• Why replacing the toss with an auction is the fair thing to do (2021)

• Win toss, bat first. Or not. Why the old adage hasn't worked in India this time

• Is batting first such an advantage in Tests? (2013)

• Win toss, bat first? Not necessarily, say Australia

The decision was exceedingly confusing in the case of the Sydney first-grade finals, where the team that finishes higher on the minor-round table advanced if there was no result in the match. On most occasions this meant the team that advanced in the case of a no-result batted well into the second day to ensure the opposition was shut out of the game.Surely if a lower-placed team bats first on winning the toss and plays well, they can at least determine when to declare. After all, they are the team who to take
all ten wickets to win and advance. It’s better to be in a position to declare your first innings to try and win, rather than the match eventually being abandoned because the advantaged team bats well into the second day.Fielding first after winning the toss also suggests a lack of faith in the openers. It should be an accepted fact in cricket that openers are selected because they have the qualities to see you through a tough new-ball period.The definition of insanity is when the same decision is repeatedly taken but a different result is expected each time. That means many captains in Australian cricket have attained the required criteria.Scoreboard pressure, where wickets can be taken because a satisfactory first-innings total has been posted, is a reality.

When South Australia captain David Hookes sent the opposition in on a renowned good batting pitch at Adelaide Oval once, Darren Lehmann grabbed Hookes by the collar and screamed, “I drove to the ground today fresh and prepared to bat”

There are exceptions to every rule but especially in a knockout match it is usually best to post a decent total in the hope of winning the game. Short versions of the game like T20 are an altogether different proposition.A good example of batting first comes from the career of Darren Lehmann, before he went on to represent Australia. When South Australia captain David Hookes sent the opposition in on a renowned good batting pitch at Adelaide Oval once, Lehmann grabbed the skipper by the collar and screamed, “I drove to the ground today fresh and prepared to bat.”The operative word in Lehmann’s sensible lament was “fresh”. Why would you want to field while you are fresh and then bat when weary after having spent hours in the field chasing leather?The old quote by Vic Richardson, my grandfather, is often invoked: “If you win the toss, then nine times you bat first, and on the tenth occasion you ponder the decision but still bat.” It’s worth remembering that grandfather Richardson was a former Australia captain who led in an era of uncovered pitches.It doesn’t make sense in that case to not bat first if you win the toss in dry conditions.
However, in the case of covered pitches too, there is still plenty to recommend batting first. In that case a team bats while the players are fresh and can claim a substantial advantage if they post a decent total. Then if they bowl well, that advantage is enhanced.Whatever decision is taken at the toss, you need to play well but there are many reasons why batting first is best. After all, there is only one decision a captain who wins the toss has to make: how do we best go about winning the game?

The cricketing world congratulated Afghanistan on their first ever win over Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2024

This is big… @ACBofficials topple Australia for the very first time!
Hats off to @rashidkhan_19 and his team of true fighters. #T20WorldCup

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) June 23, 2024

When he came to the crease, RCB were slowing down. By the time he left it, they were on course for 200-plus

Karthik Krishnaswamy26-Apr-20241:40

Moody: RCB bowlers did their homework and executed well

When someone is really, really good at something, they can make that thing look so simple that it becomes difficult to pinpoint exactly why they’re so good at it.Rajat Patidar’s ability to hit spin bowling is like this. He hit Mayank Markande for five sixes on Thursday night, four of them in a row, and he made each of them look so simple as to be inevitable. So precise and unfussy were his movements, and so sure and unhindered his bat-swing, that he made each ball look like a hit-me ball.This wasn’t quite the case, of course, and it most certainly wasn’t when Markande bowled the last ball of that 6, 6, 6, 6 sequence. It wasn’t a ball, but it was an extremely difficult one to hit, dangled so far from off stump that it would have been called wide if Patidar hadn’t hit it.Rishabh Pant could have hit a mirror image of this ball for six, but he would probably have fallen to the floor while doing so. Patidar launched it over extra-cover without showing the slightest strain of having to reach for the ball. His front foot moved a long way to enable the shot, but he didn’t lose his upper-body shape even momentarily.It was an extraordinary shot, and you need to play shots like that if you’re racking up numbers like these:Of all batters who’ve faced at least 50 balls of spin in IPL 2024, Patidar has the second-best strike rate (225.00) behind Abhishek Sharma (243.10). Patidar has hit 14 sixes against spin this season, which puts him in joint-second place alongside Heinrich Klaasen, with Abhishek (16) once again in the lead.It was fitting, then, that the defining performance of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 35-run win over the record-shattering Sunrisers Hyderabad of Abhishek and Klaasen came from Patidar’s bat.Rajat Patidar slammed a fifty off 19 balls•Associated PressEven before Patidar’s arrival, there had been a sense that RCB weren’t just playing an IPL game but playing one against Sunrisers team. They had chosen to bat, with Faf du Plessis admitting that the decision had been made with their opponents’ strengths in mind. They had begun their innings with palpable urgency, with Virat Kohli and du Plessis flexing their pace-hitting credentials in a 61-run powerplay.But by the time Patidar came to the crease, RCB had slowed down significantly. Their top three has a distinct preference for pace over spin, and Sunrisers were beginning to exploit it. Shahbaz Ahmed had conceded just two runs in the fifth over, and Markande just four in the seventh while dismissing Will Jacks.R Ashwin recently suggested on his YouTube channel that there’s a growing belief within the game that “wicket-taking is becoming irrelevant in T20 cricket.” Whether you agree or disagree with that sentiment, you will probably agree that it’s sometimes beneficial for a batting team to lose a particular wicket at a particular moment in a game. The wicket of Jacks was like that.With Patidar’s entry, RCB had, for the first time in their innings, a batting pair with complementary strengths. Its impact on the scorecard was unambiguous. RCB’s other batters combined to score 15 off 24 balls against Shahbaz and Markande; Patidar hammered them for 40 off 12.This ability against spin makes Patidar a key player in RCB’s middle order – Mahipal Lomror is probably their only other spin-hitter with Glenn Maxwell sitting out – and there appears, at this stage, to be no style of spin that genuinely ties him down. Over his IPL career, he’s struck at 161.53 against offspin, 139.68 against left-arm orthodox, and a ridiculous 219.31 against legspin. Suyash Sharma and Markande have felt the force of Patidar’s disdain for legspin this season, and Ravi Bishnoi when he smacked an unbeaten 54-ball 112 in the Eliminator of IPL 2022.Patidar has only batted 19 times in the IPL, of course, so these numbers remain the outcomes of relatively small sample sizes. Small enough that he’s yet to face any left-arm wristspin in his IPL career. But three of RCB’s next four games are against Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals, so keep an eye out for Patidar vs Noor Ahmad and Patidar vs Kuldeep Yadav. You can be sure those two teams and those two bowlers are already drafting their plans.

All the big numbers from South Africa’s collapse to 106 against Afghanistan in Sharjah

ESPNcricinfo stats team18-Sep-20244 Totals lower than South Africa’s 106 for which Afghanistan have bowled out a current Full Member side in ODIs. They have bowled out Zimbabwe under 100 three times in the format and Ireland for exactly 100 once. South Africa’s total in this match is the lowest against Afghanistan by one of the first eight Full Member teams in ODIs. The next lowest is West Indies’ 149 in Gros Islet in 2017.7 Wickets lost by South Africa inside their first 10 overs. This was the first time they had lost as many inside the first 10. Their previous worst (where information is available) came when they lost their seventh wicket inside 13 overs against India in Johannesburg last year.0 Lower scores at which South Africa have been seven down in an ODI. South Africa were 36 for 7 in this match. This was also the first time they had lost seven wickets before getting to 50 in ODIs. Their previous worst had come against Australia in 2002, when they lost their seventh wicket at the score of 50.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 Lower totals than today’s 106 by South Africa while batting first in ODIs. Their lowest totals batting first are 83 against England at Trent Bridge in 2008 and 99 against India in Delhi in 2022.32 Runs scored by South Africa’s top six in this match – their lowest in an ODI when all of them have been dismissed. Their previous lowest was 45 against Australia in 1993-94 in Sydney.0 Fifty-plus scores in 43 innings in international cricket by Wiaan Mulder before his fighting 52 in this match. Coming in at 29 for 5, Mulder scored nearly 50% of South Africa’s total. In fact, South Africa’s 106 is the second-lowest all-out total in ODIs with at least one individual fifty. The lowest is their own 101 against Pakistan in 1999-00 when Herschelle Gibbs top-scored with 59.102 Wickets by Fazalhaq Farooqui in international cricket. He became just the third seamer from Afghanistan to take 100 wickets when he dismissed South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram in this match. Dawlat Zadran and Gulbadin Naib are the other two Afghanistan seamers with 100 or more international wickets.144 Balls that went unused in Afghanistan’s first ever win in international cricket against South Africa. This was Afghanistan’s fifth-biggest win in terms of balls remaining in ODIs and third biggest against a Full Member team. For South Africa, this ranks as their tenth-worst defeat in ODIs.1 Full-member teams Afghanistan haven’t yet beaten in international cricket. Post their win against South Africa, India are now the only team they haven’t defeated yet. They have come close twice, though. The first instance was a tied ODI during the 2018 Asia Cup. The second instance came earlier this year in a T20I in Bengaluru, where they lost in the second set of Super Overs.