South Africa's Tabraiz Shamsi celebrates after dismissing Afghanistan's Karim Janat (not pictured) LBW during the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies USA 2024 semi-final match between South Africa and Afghanistan at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Taluba, Trinidad and Tobago on June 26, 2024. (Photo by Robert Cianfrone/Getty Images)
South Africa brutally dashed Afghanistan's T20 World Cup dreams on Wednesday, beating the underdogs by nine wickets with over 11 overs to spare to reach the final of cricket's extravaganza for the first time.
Left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 for 6) and tall fast bowler Marco Jansen (3 for 16) opened the scoring and overwhelmed Afghanistan's fragile batting line-up, restricting them to just 56 runs in 11.5 overs.
Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje maintained the relentless pressure by taking two wickets each at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.
The surface favoured all bowlers but Afghanistan had little defence and South Africa lost Quinton de Kock early to help Fazal Haq Farooqui take his tournament-high 17th wicket.
But Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) and captain Aiden Markram (23 not out) stormed to 60-1 in 8.5 overs to send the Proteas into Saturday's final in Barbados, where they will face the winner of the second semi-final between title-holders England and unbeaten India, played in Guyana on Thursday.
“We decided quite early on that the wicket was going to give us something so we just stuck to our plan, played simply and focused on getting a result,” man of the match Jansen said of South Africa's bowling display that effectively ended the match.
Asmatullah Omarzai (10) was the only Afghanistan player to reach double figures and his side managed just 13 extra runs in a thoroughly demoralised match after Monday's thrilling drama which saw them beat Bangladesh in St Vincent to reach the last four.
Throughout their dream run to reach their first semi-final at a senior men's world championship, Afghanistan have relied on openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran to provide a strong foundation while simultaneously hiding weaknesses in the rest of the batting order.
'A tough night for us'
But when Jansen got Gurbaz out to Hendricks at slip in the first over of the match to deny him a run, the worst fears of both the Afghans and their growing mass of Caribbean supporters were realised as the Proteas ruthlessly exploited their opponents' technical flaws.
“It was a tough night for us as a team but that's how it is in T20,” Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said.
“You have to be mentally prepared for any situation. They pitched great, but we didn't hit well.”
For Markram, who led South Africa to victory in the 2014 Men's Under-19 Championship in Dubai, it was all about making the most of his good fortune.
“I think we were lucky to lose the toss because we would have been batting as well, but the bowlers need to bowl the ball in the right areas and they did that,” he explained.
“It's not the captain that's got the team to this stage in the tournament. It's a massive team effort that involves people behind the scenes and off the field.”
This will be South Africa's first senior men's final since 1998 when Hansie Cronje's team beat Brian Lara's West Indies team in the final in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Rashid said the team would look back on this season with pride and belief in the future.
“We came here before the tournament and if they told us we would face South Africa in the semi-finals, we would accept it,” Rashid said. “We are capable of beating any team.”
“Next time I go to a tournament like this, I'll be more confident. It's all about how you control yourself in pressure situations against tough teams.”
“There is a lot of work to be done, especially in the middle order… We have been doing well but we need to work harder, especially in the batting department, when we come back into the tournament.”
©Agence France-Presse
