Cricket World Cup: Afghanistan proud of campaign despite loss to South Africa

Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said the future was bright for Afghanistan cricket after a competitive defeat to South Africa on Friday completed a World Cup campaign in which they have exceeded all expectations.

Rassie van der Dussen hit an unbeaten 76 to lead the Proteas to a five-wicket win in Ahmedabad. Chasing 245 for victory, Van der Dussen guided his side home with 15 balls to spare ahead of their semi-final against Australia next week.

Azmatullah Omarzai had earlier hit an unbeaten 97 to lift Afghanistan to 244 all out in a match where they needed an unlikely 438-run win to make the last four. The Afghans posted wins over England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands to be in contention for the semi-finals until their Glenn Maxwell-inspired defeat to Australia.

Shahidi said: "As a captain, I am quite happy with our performances. We fought till the last moment in each and every game. We had good matches and had some good learnings for the future too.

"I am proud of the way our batters performed in this tournament. We were struggling before the World Cup. So, we sat together and talked about our weaknesses. In the end, you saw how our batters did and it is a positive sign for the future.

"Everyone knows we have good spinners. If we go with the same momentum that we had in the batting department this World Cup, we will do well. We gave a good message to the world. We played big teams and we fought till the last moment, even if we lost."

Afghanistan's spinners halted South Africa's strong start of 64-0 after Mujeeb Ur Rahman got skipper Temba Bavuma for 23 and fellow spinner Mohammad Nabi trapped Quinton de Kock lbw on 41.

But the Proteas got their chase back on track in a third-wicket stand of 50 only for