The South Africa cricket team defeated the Afghanistan cricket team on Wednesday in a nail-biting ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash, winning the last ball of a second Super Over after the teams finished tied twice in a dramatic group match in Ahmedabad.
South Africa posted a score of 187-6, thanks to blazing half-centuries from Quinton de Kock (59) and Ryan Rickelton (61), who put on 114 to set the platform for what looked, at one point, like a 200-plus total.
Afghanistan achieved the target, finishing on 187 in total, taking the match into a Super Over. The tension only increased when the teams were level again after the first eliminator, forcing a rare second Super Over which South Africa sealed in a thrilling finale.
The match sent social media into a frenzy, with fans calling it “crazy”, “crazy” and “incredible drama”, while many posts captured Afghanistan’s heartbreak after forcing the match to a sudden death.
“This is the craziest game of cricket I’ve seen… SA survive,” one user wrote, while Charles Watts described the contest as “crazy” and full of “incredible drama”.
One X user summed it up: “An end to the game,” while another praised Afghanistan’s fight, writing: “What a GAME!! HATS TO AFGHANISTAN. »
Several users focused on the emotional blow to Afghanistan, with fans calling it a “heartbreaking moment” for Afghanistan and adding that South Africa “finally managed to achieve this”, while another posted: “Agony for Afghanistan.”
Others argued that Afghanistan would regret their mistakes, with one X user saying they “probably” lost the match, and potentially their Super 8 hopes, because of mistakes, while one »
One user used the match to defend the format, calling it a reminder that T20 cricket can produce edge-of-the-seat drama.
In another backlash, a fan posted: “SA win. End of the road for Afghanistan”, capturing the ruthless finality of a competition which had twice refused to end.
