AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first as Afghanistan set out to inflict an improbably massive win over South Africa on Friday in a bid to reach the Cricket World Cup semifinals.
South Africa is already assured of a semifinal spot against five-time champion Australia.
Afghanistan is still mathematically in the hunt for fourth place. It is on eight points and is trailing New Zealand, which is on 10 points.
The bigger concern is the net run-rate difference – New Zealand elevated its run-rate to plus 0.743 after beating Sri Lanka by five wickets on Thursday.
Afghanistan is coming off an emotion-charged loss to Australia, when it had control until Glenn Maxwell posted an extraordinary, unbeaten double century.
While first needing a win, Afghanistan also needs to beat South Africa by 439 runs to surpass New Zealand’s net run-rate.
Hosts India will play the fourth-place team in the semifinals. Pakistan, also on eight points, is still in contention and needs to beat England on Saturday by a similarly improbable margin to get ahead of New Zealand.
Afghanistan fielded an unchanged side from its previous game against Australia.
South Africa made two changes from the lineup that lost to unbeaten India. Allrounder Marco Jansen has been rested, with Andile Phehlukwayo coming in as replacement. Pace bowler Gerald Coetzee replaced wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium should suit the batters, with spin coming into play as the game progresses.
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Lineups:
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Ikram Alikhil, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq
South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Andile Phehlukwayo, David Miller, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
