Afghanistan eyes clean sweep, bats first against South Africa in 3rd ODI

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat in the third and final one-day international against South Africa as it eyes a historic 3-0 clean sweep against the Proteas on Sunday.

Afghanistan leads the series 2-0 after recording emphatic six-wicket and 177-run victories in the first two games with South Africa getting bowled out for 106 and 134.

Bowling all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo replaced Nadre Burger in the only change South Africa made from the last game.

Afghanistan had to leave out ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who grabbed a five-wicket haul in the last match despite struggling with a hamstring injury he sustained during batting.

Opening batter Abdul Malik was handed his debut and replaced Riaz Hassan at the top of the order while Fazalhaq Farooqi made way for fast bowler Farid Khan as Afghanistan made three changes.

South Africa has fielded an inexperienced team for its maiden one-day international series against Afghanistan with several frontline players, including David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was rested for the series while Gerald Coetzer and Marco Jansen are recovering from injuries.

Teams: 

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, FareedAhmad, Naveed Zadran.

South Africa: Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlulwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Nqabayomzi Peter, Lungi Ngidi. (AP) DDV