New Delhi: South Africa defeated Afghanistan by 9 wickets in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 at Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad and qualified for their first-ever men’s World Cup final.
Pitch created problems for Afghanistan
Skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bat first on a fresh surface which had a lot of cracks and uneven bounce. Jansen dismissed Gurbaz in the first over with a simple catch to slips. In Jansen’s next over, one ball bounced and hit the left elbow of Azmatullah.
Rabada got the wicket of Ibrahim on the first ball and three balls later he dismissed Mohammad Nabi. Anrich Nortje also struck in his first over and got the wicket of Azmatullah and later bowled Rashid Khan with a good length delivery.
The ball kept low when South Africa came to chase the total but Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks batted carefully and took their team over the line. After the match captain Rashid Khan also spoke about the conditions and said that it was tough for his team and they might have done better but the conditions didn’t allow them.
“It was tough, tough for us as a team. We might have done better but the conditions didn’t allow us to do what we wanted. That’s how T20 cricket is, you need to be ready for all conditions. I think they bowled really well” Rashid said after the match.
South Africa’s first-ever World Cup final
The Proteas men have suffered many heartbreaks in the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup. England defeated South Africa by 19 runs in the rain-affected match in the 1992 World Cup semi-final whereas Australia advanced to the final in the 1999 World Cup after their semi-final match tied against Proteas men. In the 2015 World Cup, AB de Villiers and Co. lost the semi-final against New Zealand in the last over.
They lost the 2009 T20 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan and in 2014 India defeated them by 6 wickets. Aiden Markram and his team are still unbeaten in the ongoing tournament.
They defeated Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal in the group stage and in the Super 8, the Proteas defeated USA, England and West Indies to qualify for the semi-final. They defeated Afghanistan by 9 wickets in the semi-final and qualified for their first-ever ICC World Cup Final.
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South Africa defeated Afghanistan by 9 wickets at The Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad and ended their fairytale run in the T20 World Cup 2024. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
