South Africa recorded their maiden win in the ICC World Cup 2019 following victory by a margin of nine wickets against Afghanistan in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Saturday.
Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to field.
Veteran spinner Imran Tahir made his presence felt with the ball, picking 4 wickets for 29 runs in a spell of 7 overs. The 40-year-old accounted for the wickets of Noor Ali Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan to help bowl out Afghanistan for 125 runs.
Tahir further enjoyed quality support from pacer Chris Morris who picked three wickets while conceding 13 runs.
All-rounder Rashid Khan was the highest run-scorer for Afghanistan with 35 runs off 25 deliveries, followed by a 32 from opener Noor Ali Zadran.
Proteas openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock stitched a partnership of 104 runs for the first wicket in 22.5 overs. This played a key role in virtually ensuring a win with South Africa chasing down a set target of 127 runs following DLS regulations in 28.4 overs.
Let us take a look at the list of players with most runs and wickets after the clash between South Africa and Afghanistan:
Most Runs
Australian skipper Aaron Finch leads the run-scoring charts with 343 runs scored in five matches at a strike rate of 110.64 and average of 68.6
Fellow opener David Warner is placed on the second spot with 281 runs in the same number of matches at a strike rate of 76.98 and average of 70.25.
England skipper Joe Root and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan are placed on the third and fourth spot in the list with 279 and 260 runs respectively.
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith rounds off the top five list having scored 243 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 89.33 and average of 48.6.
| Pos | Player | Team | Runs | Matches | Innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Finch | AUS | 343 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | David Warner | AUS | 281 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | Joe Root | ENG | 279 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Shakib Al Hasan | BAN | 260 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Steve Smith | AUS | 243 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Jason Roy | ENG | 215 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | Quinton de Kock | CSA | 186 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Jos Buttler | ENG | 185 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | Rohit Sharma | IND | 179 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Dimuth Karunaratne | SL | 179 | 3 | 3 |
Most Wickets
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc is the leading wicket-taker with 13 wickets, closely followed by fellow Aussie pacer Pat Cummins with 11 wickets.
Pakistan’s fast-bowler Mohammad Amir and English pacer Jofra Archer are placed on the third and fourth spot respectively with 10 and 9 wickets respectively.
New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson further rounds off the top five list with 8 wickets.
| Pos | Player | Team | Wickets | Matches | Innings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitchell Starc | AUS | 13 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | Pat Cummins | AUS | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | Mohammad Amir | PAK | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Jofra Archer | ENG | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Lockie Ferguson | NZ | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Imran Tahir | SA | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | Mark Wood | ENG | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Matt Henry | NZ | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Jimmy Neesham | NZ | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 10 | Yuzvendra Chahal | IND | 6 | 2 | 2 |
A total of 10 teams namely England, India, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are featuring in the 2019 edition of the quadrennial event.
Source: Zee News