South Africa are through to their first T20 World Cup final to finally break one of sport’s most persistent curses after a dominant nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Tarouba.
On an unruly pitch, the Afghanistan batters could do little against a rampaging Proteas’ bowling attack as Tabraiz Shamsi and Marco Jansen took three wickets each to enable South Africa to finally put an end to their run of seven straight semi-final exits in World Cup competitions.
Afghanistan’s Cinderella run in the tournament looked in danger from the first over when Rahmanullah Gurbaz was caught for Jansen’s first.
Gulbadin Naib was dismissed for nine and was quickly joined in the clubhouse by Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Nabi to leave Afghanistan in all sorts of trouble on 20-4 through just four overs.
Afghanistan desperately needed to make a stand, but their efforts were fruitless as each new batter was removed in quick succession. They ultimately managed just 56 from their innings, Azmatullah Omarzai top-scoring with 10.
Afghanistan were able to dismiss Quinton de Kock for just five as the uneven bounce also proved tricky for the Proteas but they were unable to replicate the consistent pressure of South Africa’s bowling attack and Reeza Hendricks got the winning runs with a boundary in the ninth over.
South Africa will face either England or India in Saturday’s final with the two cricketing giants facing off in their last-four clash on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking to the BBC following the win, Proteas captain Aiden Markram insisted his side wouldn’t be scared as they break new ground.
“This is as tough as it gets really,” he said. “One more step, it’s an exciting challenge for us. We’ve never been there before but it’s nothing to be scared of. It’s an opportunity that we’ve never had and we’ll be really excited about it.
“We feel we’ve been playing really good cricket for a couple of years now, have some world-class players in the group and it takes a full squad to put together a really good cricket game.
“Obviously there are external pressures but we’re trying to keep it simple and that should give us a good chance.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was frustrated that his side didn’t put their best foot forward in defeat.
“We might have done a bit better than that. But the conditions didn’t let us,” he said. “That’s what T20 is about, you’ve got to be ready for any situation. They bowled exceptionally well, we couldn’t bat well.
“We have enjoyed a lot. To reach the semi-final and play one of the best teams in South Africa, we’d have taken that. We responded well to a tough situation and beat big teams in this competition. It’s just the start for us, we can beat any team if we can keep it simple.”
