ICC T20 World Cup: South Africa’s Double Super Over win against Afghanistan: A game of mistakes that became an all-time classic

It all started in the 19th over of the Afghanistan innings as they chased 188 for victory at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. A second sensational catch at long on – the first one came a few deliveries earlier when Tristan Stubbs held on to a skier off Azmatullah Omarzai – saw David Miller end Rashid Khan’s innings, and it looked like the Proteas had sealed the deal. But Noor Ahmad walked in and smashed a 98m six to put the outcome in doubt again.

Then came a 20th over that could have potentially been the source of Kagiso Rabada’s nightmares had South Africa not prevailed in the end. With Afghanistan 9 down already, Noor was caught off the first ball to end the match; or so everyone thought, but the siren went off to indicate Rabada had overstepped. The free hit was first a wide, and then a dot ball. But undeterred, Noor smacked another six as Rabada missed his length on the shorter side. There would be another no-ball as Afghanistan stole a brace, to reduce the equation to 2 off 3 balls.

Should Noor have attempted a two after hitting the ball wide of long-off, knowing there were two deliveries still left? Should Fazalhaq Farooqi have reacted quicker to Noor’s shot instead of taking a second to watch where the ball was going? And should he have dived to complete the second run?

Those questions would haunt Rashid and Co as Rabada somewhat made up for his earlier mistakes by diving to his left and turning an ordinary throw from Marco Jansen into a match-tieing one. Farooqui was millimeters short, the match was tied, and both sides were granted another chance to win this.

A matter of inches

Afghanistan did well to score 17 runs in the first Super Over, and took down some good balls from the best bowler of the day in Lungi Ngidi. Then, it was Farooqi’s last ball that missed the mark; when Afghanistan needed to just prevent a six, he bowled a low full toss to Tristan Stubbs that was hit over long- off. Afghanistan threw the ball to Azmatullah for the second Super Over, and not their talisman Rashid – Miller smashed three sixes as the Proteas posted 23.

Then, surprisingly, Mohammad Nabi came out to bat, and Keshav Maharaj stood at the top of the mark – both decisions raising eyebrows. Nabi was beaten off the first ball, and dismissed off the second. Surely that was the match?

Out walked Gurbaz – who should have been taking strike – and smashed three consecutive sixes, followed by a wide. From 24 off four balls, Afghanistan now needed just a four to tie the match again.

Gurbaz, however, couldn’t find that clincher as South Africa heaved a sigh of collective relief.

It perhaps wasn’t a mistake, but it certainly came as a surprise when Rashid won the toss in a day match and opted to bowl. Chasing is predominantly what teams prefer in T20 cricket, but Afghanistan usually follow a template: out of the 83 T20Is they have won the toss in, they have batted first 58 times, just as they had at Chepauk a few days earlier in another 11 am start against New Zealand. That move backfired and maybe prompted a rethink in the must-win encounter against South Africa. And they nearly pulled it off, too.

“It showed the type of cricket we can play, certainly while chasing. The game ebbed and flowed, and there were a few mistakes from both sides towards the end, which let the other side back in when you should have tried to close it out,” Afghanistan’s head coach Jonathan Trott said later. “These guys are never shy of rising up against the challenges that they face throughout their lives on and off the field. These types of losses can hurt for a while. South Africa fielded pretty well, actually. The run-out, a few catches on the boundary, on the ring, those sorts of things. Maybe that was the difference.”