Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Plays of the Day: Rashid too good for outwitted Markram
Knock of the Day
Chasing has been a challenge for the Proteas in this World Cup, but last night Rassie van der Dussen stood up and showed character to see South Africa over the line at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Faced with one of the most complete spin-bowling displays in the tournament – with four relentless spinners nailing their lines and lengths – Van der Dussen soldiered on to an unbeaten 76 off 95 deliveries, a knock that included six boundaries and a solitary maximum.
Ball of the Day
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This was Rashid Khan’s first wicket the match, and he took the big wicket of Aiden Markram.
Rashid had bowled a sharp googly to Markram earlier in his innings, and that particular ball seemed to play tricks in his mind – with the South African struggling to be decisive in his shot selection.
Rashid’s normal leg-break deliveries were not easy to deal with either, and because of this, Markram found himself struggling to read the spinner.
Rashid bowled one on the off-stump line, and the sharp leg-break caught Markram by surprise, with the SA batter spewing the ball to cover as a result, with Naveen ul-Haq completing a simple catch to conclude what was a magnificent set-up to dismiss Markram.
Rashid wins Klaasen Match-Up
This was a highly anticipated match-up, with Rashid being one of the best spinners in the world and equally, Heinrich Klaasen has been the best player of spin going around.
But on what was a wicket that had quite a lot of turn and bounce, the odds were heavily stacked in Rashid’s favour.
There was no ruling Klaasen out as the right-hander played his signature shot off Noor Ahmed to announce his arrival at the crease. He rocked back and pulled Ahmed for four as the spinner slightly missed his length.
After a good over to Klaasen, Rashid finally bowled the in-form batter, knocking the off-stump out of the ground to win the battle.
Shot of the Day
If there’s any length you shouldn’t bowl to Quinton de Kock, it is probably short and towards the leg-side. Opening bowler Naveen ul-Haq, known for his disciplined line and lengths at around the 120km/h mark, strayed away from his normal delivery and pitched it short to De Kock, who quickly dispatched the bumper for six over the square-leg boundary and asserted his dominance over the seamer.
Review of the Day
De Kock was struck on the pads by a Mohammad Nabi delivery following an attempted reverse sweep shot. The on-field umpire gave it not out, but the Afghanistan team took it upstairs for the third umpire to give a more informed decision.
It was all red, with hawk-eye technology showing the ball was going on to hit the stumps, giving Afghanistan their second wicket.