The Proteas came into their first bilateral series against Afghanistan having won both of their previous ODI encounters. Their back-to-back defeats mean that the home side have now registered their biggest scalp as they take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series.
South Africa failed to deal with the spin threat of Rashid Khan and the experienced spinner picked up (5/19) as he ripped through the Proteas middle and lower order, and led his side to a historic win on his birthday.
Set a target of 312 to win, The Proteas opening stand of 73 by the returning skipper Temba Bavuma (38 off 47) and Tony de Zorzi (31 off 44) laid the perfect platform for the visitors but the loss of Bavuma at the bowling of Azmatullah Ormazai (1-17) put a halt in to any momentum they tried to build.
South Africa struggled to build partnerships and could not keep up with the required run rate thereafter, and they could only manage to score 61 runs for a price of nine wickets. Nangeyalia Kharote (4-26) cleaned out the tail and completed a spin dominated victory as nine of the ten wickets were picked up by both spinners.
Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz set up Afghanistan innings after they won the toss. His fluent knock of 105 off 110 balls (10x4, 3x6) saw him to his seventh career century before he was bowled by Nandre Burger (10-68-1).
