RSA VS AFG - Match 21, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

So, we are done and dusted with today's double header. Australia registered a comprehensive win against Sri Lanka earlier in the day while South Africa steamrolled Afghanistan moments ago. Hope you guys enjoyed our coverage of both these encounters. Tomorrow we've got an exciting match awaiting us. But there's someone else waiting to dampen our moods too. I leave it upto you to figure out who am I talking about. That 'someone' better stay away! For now, this is Nikhil Jadhav signing off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Vineet Anantharaman, Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our ace scorer Venky. Time to head back home and hit the sack! Ciao!

Faf du Plessis | South African skipper: I am smiling at your jokes. Today was a good day for us. We spoke a lot about it and today we were good. Given the nature of the wicket, conducive for seam bowlers, it would have been a challenge. It was important to get a good start, the wicket was not very conducive to spin. Morris and Tahir were fantastic in the middle overs as they got wickets. He (Tahir) has single handedly made us a strong team in the last two years with his ability to take wickets in the middle overs. Naturally Quinton plays quite freely but it was important for him to see off the new ball. We needed a 60 or 70-run stand upfront and we could have worked on the run rate later. It was important for Amla to get amongst the runs, he will be important for us in the upcoming games. In the next four games, net run rate is not going to play a massive role if you win those games. So we need Hashim to score runs for us, hence he needed a not-out innings today.

Gulbadin Naib | Afghanistan skipper: It's bad luck. We did well in the opening overs but we repeated the same mistake again (Just like the previous match). Credit goes to Tahir's spell, we weren't expecting it. We did well against the fast bowlers but the batsmen didn't take responsibility in the middle overs. We needed to build partnerships but we committed the same mistake by not having those partnerships. We have a lot of batsmen in the team with Rashid Khan coming at 9. We need our lower-middle order batsmen to contribute in the upcoming matches. Asghar is a senior player that's why we gave him a chance. Najib is an outstanding batsman, we'll have him in the team in the upcoming matches. We need to play much better cricket.

Imran Tahir (MoM) - Yeah, I really enjoyed my workout today, pleased with the way the ball came out (of my hand), I had a role to play for my team, have been working hard; really pleased with our win today. We were up for it, can't control the weather, but we made sure we maintained our intensity at the highest level, the fast bowlers set the tone; overall it was a very pleasing performance. I did get some turn, but it was more wicket-to-wicket, wasn't trying too many variations at the start, it came out well and then I tried some different variations. The celebration part are always important, it's important for us to keep winning, we are up for the challenge, we are ready to take the fight in the next match in Birmingham (against New Zealand). He (Rashid Khan) played some good shots, but I can go and tell him now that I took his wicket.

In reply, South African openers got off to a cautious start but de Kock was quick to shift gears as he notched up his second fifty of the tournament. The match could have got over much earlier if he wasn't dismissed. Amla got back among the runs with his knock of 40-odd but it wasn't a fluent knock as his strike rate was on the lower side. Overall, South Africa would be happy with this win and they'll try to take the confidence in their next match as they face New Zealand. Hang in for the presentations...

South Africa register their first win of #CWC19 and it couldn't have been any more convincing. Electing to bowl first after winning the toss was the perfect decision by Faf du Plessis and his bowlers didn't disappoint him either. Tahir, Morris and Phehlukwayo were professional as their efforts helped South Africa bundle out the opposition for a paltry score of 125. Yes, the rain stoppages made life difficult for Afghan batsmen by hampering their concentration levels but that can't be used as an excuse at this level, especially in a World Cup. They should have put a better batting performance and dropping Najibullah Zadran - their highest run getter of the tournament was really an awful decision.

Nabi to Phehlukwayo, SIX, that's more like it! Phehlukwayo shimmies down the wicket and thumps the floated delivery over long-on for a massive six. South Africa beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets with 116 balls to spare - a stroll in the park for them

Nabi to Phehlukwayo, no run, blocks the floated ball off his front foot. The crowd isn't happy as South Africa are being defensive

Ghouse Bagwan: "Yesterday Woakes, today Phehlukwayo. Teams are testing their lower orders strength."

Nabi to Amla, 1 run, flicks the fullish ball to deep mid-wicket and takes a single

Nabi to Amla, no run, flatter and quicker around middle and leg, Amla nudges it to mid-wicket

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, no run, on a length around off, Phehlukwayo heaves across the line, but doesn't connect it well, mistiming it to the man inside the ring at mid-wicket

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, no run, full and tailing into the batsman on a full length, Phehlukwayo tries a flick and gets an inside edge on to his pads

Willie: "Hope the time Amla spends in the middle tonight brings back the form South Africa so desperately needs from him!"

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, wide, slower one attempted by the bowler and it slides down the leg side

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, no run, Aftab Alam nails the yorker and the batsman digs it out nicely, the ball thuds into his shoes as the bowler walks up to him and has a word-or-two

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, wide, second bumper of the over and it sails over Phehlukwayo's head, wide called by the umpire this time around

Aftab Alam to Phehlukwayo, no run, short ball outside off, Phehlukwayo sways away

Rahul: "It's disheartening as a fan to see Rashid Khan being wicketless and the most expensive bowler today."

Aftab Alam to Amla, 1 run, short and slow outside off, Amla waits for it arrive and ramps it down to third man, wasn't much pace on the ball, hence it didn't go the distance

Aftab Alam to Amla, no run, fullish delivery around off, Amla squeezes it into the off side as he tries to play an off-drive

Aftab Alam [4.0-1-13-0] is back into the attack

Nabi to Phehlukwayo, no run, darts this one straight around leg, Phehlukwayo tries to work it into the leg side, ends up getting on his back pad