[ad_1]
Trinidad: South Africa moved past their poor record in ICC knockouts to thrash Afghanistan by 9 wickets in the first T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal and enter their maiden final.
On Wednesday, in Trinidad, Aiden Markram-led Proteas rode on spinner Tabriaz Shamsi and Marco Jansen’s three-fers each to dismiss the Rashid Khan-led Afghans, playing their maiden World Cup semifinal, for 56 (lowest-ever score in T20 WC semis) and chased it down with 67 balls to spare.
Opting to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad, Rashid & Co. had nothing going for themselves from the word go. Their in-form openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmatullah Gurbaz went back in a flash and they were soon reduced to 23 for 5 with pacers Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada chipping in with regular breakthroughs.
Jansen bowled in the right areas, and kept it on the stumps, to reap rewards whereas Shamsi removed the tail in a flash as the Afghans bundled out for a mere 56 in 11.5 overs. Only Azmatullah Omarzai touched double digits with his 10 being the highest score as Afghanistan attained some unwanted feats.
Talking about the run-chase, Afghanistan removed opener Quinton De Kock with pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi (who signed off with the most wickets in the ongoing edition — 16 scalps) striking early. However, there was nothing more to celebrate for the Afghans as Markram (23 not out) and opener Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) stitched an unbeaten 55-run second-wicket stand to take their side to a maiden T20 WC final.
For Afghanistan, they can hold their heads high as an inspiring campaign came to an end, where they beat New Zealand and Australia. They probably ran out of steam, after also not getting much breathing space between their last Super 8 game and the first semifinal. Proteas, who also had a delayed flight en route to the semifinals, were as clinical as ever with their bowlers dominating the show.
Markram-led SA, who won several close games in this year’s competition, have, thus, stormed their way into the maiden T20 WC final. They will now lock horns with the winner of the second semifinal, between defending champions England and India (on June 27, in Guyana).
The final will be held at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on Saturday (June 29).
[ad_2]
