Afghanistan made history on Friday by winning their first ODI series against South Africa with a thrilling 177-run victory in the second match of the three-match series thanks to a fantastic five-wicket haul by spinner Rashid Khan. Afghanistan’s 177-run victory against Zimbabwe is their largest-ever one-day international victory by runs. The previous record was 154 runs.

Afghanistan’s victory on Friday handed them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and a remarkable series triumph against another Test-playing country. Afghanistan had won the opening match by six wickets on Wednesday.

Afghanistan chose to bat first and amassed a formidable 311/4 in 50 overs thanks to a scorching century from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz and half-centuries from Rahmat Shah (50) and Azmatullah Omarzai (86 not out).

In response, South Africa was bowled out for 134 in 34.2 overs, a crushing loss with almost 15 overs remaining, after failing to build on a 73-run opening partnership and experiencing a middle and lower order collapse. Afghanistan won handily, with Rashid Khan finishing with figures of 9-1-19-5 and Nangeyalia Kharote scoring 5-19 runs.

Gurbaz broke Ahmad Shahzad’s record for the most hundreds by an Afghanistan hitter when he struck his seventh hundred in ODIs after captain Hashmatullah Shahidi decided to bat first.

He reached his half-century in 56 balls after establishing an 88-run partnership for the first wicket with fellow opener Riaz Hassan (29). He afterwards brought on 101 runs for the second wicket with Rahman, who struck two boundaries and completed fifty off 66 balls.

Gurbaz hit 10 boundaries and three maximums in his 107 balls to achieve the milestone. Before Nandre Burget wiped him out with a length ball delivered from round the wicket that nipped back and hit the top of the stumps as Gurbaz swung and missed, he survived a DRS referral and amassed a score of 105 from 110 balls.

The task of scoring runs for Afghanistan was then taken over by Azmatullah Omarzai, who scorched an unbeaten 86 off 50 balls while hitting five boundaries and six enormous sixes, supporting Afghanistan’s scoring and helping them achieve a high total.

South Africa got off to a strong start, chasing a goal of 312 runs, thanks to captain Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi, who guided them to 73 runs in 14 overs. Bavuma smashed one six, four boundaries, and 38 off 47 deliveries.

After Cristan Stubbs was out for five in the 24th over, Tony de Zorzi scored 31 runs off 44 balls. Reeza Hendriks (17) and Aiden Markram (21) also contributed to South Africa’s 103/4 total. From that advantageous position, they lost direction, with left-arm spinner Rashid Khan and numbers 6.2 leading them into the semi-cautious stage.