De Villiers' costly let-off, and Shahzad's pose

South Africa dazzled with an array of boundaries in the first six overs but the most eye-catching one came when Faf du Plessis took on Mohammad Nabi. The offspinner dropped one short, du Plessis gave himself room by stepping outside leg stump, went deep into his crease, took his top hand off the handle of his bat and carved the ball over cover using just one hand.

Quinton de Kock knew Faf du Plessis had his dancing shoes on, so when du Plessis jabbed Amir Hamza into the covers, de Kock thought a quick run was on. Then de Kock saw Mohammad Nabi swooping in and realised it was too risky so he turned back. At the other end, du Plessis had already responded but soon saw it was wiser to turn back. He was late to undo his steps and Nabi's throw came in quickly for Mohammad Shahzad to catch the South African captain short of his ground.

AB de Villiers had just started to threaten when he offered Afghanistan a chance. He sent a Samiullah Shenwari delivery straight back to him. Shenwari had to react quickly in his follow through and got his hands up in time but then it all became too much. He could not hold on as the ball burst through his hands and de Villiers got his 27th run. He would go on to score 37 more.

His ability to hit the ball anywhere he wants had already been on display but to further emphasise the point, AB de Villiers bisected the gap between the stands in the middle of his assault on Rashid Khan. After hitting him through midwicket twice and straight down the ground, de Villiers smeared a short ball straight into the daylight that peeped through a gap in the stand at midwicket. That also brought up fifty for him, off 24 balls.

Mohammad Shahzad probably knows he is not model material but that did not stop him from striking a pose after a perfect lofted drive. As the Kyle Abbott delivery was sent cleanly over long-on, Shahzad held his stance: head down, bat straight, elbows high. And there he stood.

Faf du Plessis had specifically asked for discipline from his attack but he may need to extend that to include his fielders. Mohammad Nabi sliced David Wiese to short third man, where Imran Tahir was stationed. Tahir failed to move quickly enough to his left and by the time he got there, the bounce had the better of him. Tahir could not even get a hand to the ball as it disappeared past his legs and onto the boundary. Wiese's figures were already mangled, but that didn't help.