GUWAHATI: South Africa secured their first-ever berth in a men's World Cup final after making mincemeat of Afghanistan in the first semi-final of T20 World Cup 2024 at Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium in Tarouba, San Fernando in Trinidad and Tobago.
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The margin of victory - by nine wickets and with 67 balls to spare - is a testament to South Africa's dominance over the match from the first ball they bowled.
Until the other day, when they made short work of Australia and sent them packing out of the tournament, and then beat Bangladesh in a thriller to make the semis spot, it seemed Afghanistan could do no wrong.
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But the Proteas had other ideas as they set about bursting the Afghanistan bubble. South Africa’s quicks threw the Afghanistan top order into utter disarray removing five of them in the first five overs. In the end, they were scuttled out for 56, their lowest T20I total, in 11.5 overs, which would prove to be no challenge to the Proteas.
South Africa scored 60 runs losing one wicket in 8.5 overs to seal their spot in the final. They will play the winners of India-England's second semifinal scheduled for later in the day. Speaking after the historic victory, South African captain Aiden Markram said, “It feels good. It is not really the captain that gets you here – it is a massive squad effort.“Really chuffed for us to have one more crack to lift a trophy.
“It was special. We were fortunate to lose the toss. We also wanted to bat. The bowlers put the ball in the right areas and made life tough for the Afghanistan batters."
“It was quite tough, but we knew it was a matter of a partnership to take the sting out upfront. Just one more step [the final]. It is an exciting challenge that we have never had. There is a lot of belief. We have played really good cricket for a couple of years as a white-ball group,” Markram said.
