Afghanistan’s hearts were broken on Wednesday, February 11, after they went down to South Africa in a T20 World Cup 2026 epic that stretched into two Super Overs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Despite a hat-trick of sixes from Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the Rashid Khan-captained side fell nine runs short, failing to score just 24 in the second Super Over. The previous first Super Over had ended tied as well, with 17 from each. Both teams had earlier managed the same score of 187 in the 20-over contest.
However, with the defeat Afghanistan have dented their hopes of making it to the super 8 stage from Goup D.
Here, we look at four expensive errors from Afghanistan in their defeat to South Africa in a T20 World Cup 2026 encounter:
1. Fazalhaq Farooqi’s poor running between the wickets at the turning point of the match
Two runs off the final three deliveries were needed when Noor Ahmad drove the ball wide of Marco Jansen at long-off. The right-hander strolled back assuming victory but Fazalhaq Farooqi was embarrassing in his running. What seemed an easy double wasn’t to be, and the non-striker couldn’t get back for the second run. Kagiso Rabada gathered the ball well wide of the stumps, and still had time to disturb them. Ahmad and Farooqi, however, were Afghanistan’s last duo. The run out resulted in Afghanistan being bowled out for 187 in 19.4 overs.
WOW! ANOTHER SUPER OVER!
We've never seen anything like this in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
You simply cannot miss this action.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup | SA 🆚 AFG | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/hgh4SaHBjk pic.twitter.com/x6HXtGAwic
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 11, 20262. Not Defending in the Initial Super Over
Fazalhaq Farooqi, who had scored 17 for Humdard in the opening Super Over, could not contain Proteas under that score. The left-arm pacer kicked things off on an excellent note, conceding just one to David Miller but he then served up a full-pitched delivery to Dewald Brevis who struck it out of the park. Captain Rashid Khan advised Farooqi to take the pace off then, and the move paid off. Tristan Stubb pounded Farooqi for a boundary, and when the pacer bowled a dot delivery through the rest of the over before being thumped for six off the low full-toss off its last ball.
3. Azmatullah Omarzai took down Rashid khan in the second Super Over
If South Africa made the smart move by deploying Keshav Maharaj for the second over, Afghanistan missed a trick in selecting Azmatullah Omarzai to bowl that over. The speedster was smashed by Tristan Stubbs for a six off the first ball, then after third and fifth deliveries were whacked for back-to-back maximums by David Miller. The Proteas scored 23 in the second Super Over. Rashid, in fact, was the most economical of them all in the 20-over match, going for just 28 runs in his four overs. Farooqi was the only bowler who bowled less than 10 an over. According to the rules, a bowler cannot bowl in both Super Overs.
4. Sending Mohammad Nabi ahead of Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the second Super Over
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the top-scorer for Afghanistan in the 20-over format. The right-handed batsman clobbered 84 runs from 42 balls at a strike rate of over 200, including seven sixes and four fours. In the meantime, Mohammad Nabi scored five runs from six balls. The momentum was with Gurbaz, but Afghanistan had sent Nabi because of his record as a tonker of big sixes. But the strategy backfired miserably after he was out to the second ball for a duck. The intensity mounted on Afghanistan but Gurbaz showed his heart by clobbering three big sixes in a row. Still, the pendulum swung firmly back South Africa’s way once Nabi was removed.
