Keshav Maharaj had a very simple wish in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night – he wanted South Africa’s fate resting in his own left hand. The Proteas had just been dragged into the first Super Over of the 2026 T20 World Cup after Afghanistan matched their 187. One extra over would decide whether South Africa stayed on course for the Super Eights.
“I asked to bowl the first Super Over but obviously Lungs was on fire over there, so they went to Lungi,” he explained afterwards, still sounding half relieved, half exhausted.
Key beats first.
• South Africa 187 for 6 (20 overs) drew with Afghanistan 187 for 7
• First Super Over: Afghanistan 17-0; South Africa 17-1 – scores level again
• Second Super Over: South Africa 23-1; Afghanistan 20-2 – Proteas win by three runs
Ngidi’s early strangle
Lungi Ngidi had set it all up. Earlier in the chase he halted a brisk Afghan start with two wickets in three balls, leaving them 51 for 2. A third scalp on his return gave him 3 for 26 – back-to-back standout figures. When he finished his quota, South Africa were favourites.
Then came Kagiso Rabada’s horror 20th. A wicket off a no-ball, then a wide, then another no-ball; 12 runs leaked in extras alone. Afghanistan needed four off the last ball and scrambled three. Scores tied, crowd stunned, players scrambling to check the regulations.
Ngidi – still “on fire” – took the first Super Over. Seventeen conceded, not terrible, but above par for a clutch scenario. South Africa now had to rewrite the tournament record and chase 18. Dewald Brevis fell first ball, Tristan Stubbs kept his earlier promise to go “all out” by muscling a last-ball six to draw level. Enter Super Over two.
The glance that sealed it
“We kind of locked eyes because I was waiting for him to turn at me and then he’s like, ‘It’s you,’ and I was like, ‘perfect!’ I wanted the ball, wanted to change the rhythm of play,” Maharaj said of his brief exchange with head coach Shukri Conrad.
Azmatullah Omarzai served up Afghanistan’s second over and went for 23 – roughly one boundary every ball. That cushion looked handy, but not bullet-proof. When Afghanistan noticed Maharaj, a left-arm spinner, walking in, they shuffled their order.
Jonathan Trott, the Afghan coach, explained the switch. “We saw that they were going to have a spinner, and Nabi’s a pretty good hitter of a spin,” he said. “He didn’t get it right but we made the call.”
Dot, wicket… and then chaos
Maharaj began with the perfect settling delivery: dot. Ball two dismissed Mohammad Nabi. By his own reckoning, “Then I knew I had to just bowl two more balls that didn’t go for a boundary within the over.”
Rahmanullah Gurbaz had other plans. Ball three sailed straight back over the sightscreen. Ball four disappeared over long-on. Ball five followed over deep mid-wicket. Eighteen off three balls, the target suddenly six from one. Maharaj, briefly, looked human. He dragged the penultimate ball too wide – a single wide, crucially not boundary-wide – and reset.
“I was just like, you know what, this is it, I’m just going to back my yorker and that’s what I did.” The final ball was full, quick, outside off. Gurbaz carved, but only for a couple. South Africa’s bench erupted; Maharaj jogged away, almost sheepish.
Assessing the choices
The decision to persist with Rabada at the death and then hand Ngidi the first Super Over will be questioned, but Conrad’s staff can point to precedent – Rabada owns dozens of tight finishes, Ngidi was in rhythm. Maharaj, though, may have been the more natural option from the outset. A spinner offers pace-off, difficult to target on a slow Motera strip once the ball softens.
Afghanistan might equally ask whether Gurbaz, unbeaten yet almost idle in the first Super Over, should have faced ball one of the second. Trott hinted they will “look at the numbers a bit later”.
Credit where due
Maharaj’s temperament has been praised for years; here it saved a campaign. He finished with 1 for 20 in regulation overs and 2 for 18 across six Super-Over deliveries – remarkable economy given three went the distance.
He also spared Rabada the harsher headlines. “He’s a world-class performer,” Maharaj said, defending his team-mate. “Unfortunately, a fast bowler has to run 30 metres so sometimes you do bowl a no-ball. His executions were really good in that over. KG’s a strong character.”
Looking ahead
South Africa leave Ahmedabad with two points and, perhaps more importantly, a sense they can still handle the tight moments that have historically tripped them. Afghanistan leave with another near-miss but also the knowledge they pushed a top-six side to the brink twice in one evening.
Neither set-up has long to reflect; group fixtures pile up quickly in this format. Yet for one night at least, a Super Over – then another – reminded everyone why cricket devised such a cruel, compelling tie-breaker, and why bowlers like Keshav Maharaj still dare to put their hand up and say: give me the ball.
