Afghanistan’s fairytale run has ended and their dreams of reaching the final of the Twenty20 World Cup got dashed by dominant South Africa.
The Proteas thumped the Afghans by nine wickets in the first semi-final at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago Thursday (BST).
South Africa continued their brilliant run in this T20 World Cup as they are now unbeaten for eight games and reached the final of an International Cricket Council global event for the first time in their history.
Afghan captain Rashid Khan’s decision to bat first backfired as they were skittled out for just 56 runs, their lowest total in T20 Internationals, in just 11.5 overs.
A fresh pitch was used at Brian Lara Cricket Academy for the first semi-final of this edition, but it came as a huge surprise as it was really tough to bat on with uneven bounce, pace and swing.
South Africa bowlers exploited the condition straightaway with tight line and length and the uneven bounce made it increasingly difficult for Afghan batters to score runs.
Pacers Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada rocked the Afghanistan batting line-up with Jansen taking three wickets from as many overs while Rabada bagged two in two overs in the powerplay.
South Africa bowlers have been bowling brilliantly in the powerplay in this world event as, in eight games, they picked up 14 wickets in the first six overs of the innings with a stunning economy of just 5.76 overall.
Afghanistan’s lower middle-order could not manage to halt the slide as Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi did the rest, grabbing the remaining five wickets with the venomous Nortje scalping two and Shamsi three.
South Africa bowlers bowled well but it was the nature of the wicket which assisted the carnage as commentators criticized it at the halfway mark and mentioned that it was nowhere near an ideal T20 wicket in a semi-final of a World Cup.
In reply, Afghanistan speedsters started brightly and dismissed Quinton de Kock in the second over to raise tiny hopes of a miracle.
But Proteas skipper Aiden Markram and opener Reeza Hendricks batted calmly and handled the situation with good technique to release the pressure and eventually help them sail through to 57-run target with 67 balls to spare.
It was not only a disappointing end to Afghanistan’s dream run in this ICC flagship event but also for their millions of spectators all around the world.
But for South Africa, it was a kind of relief from the agony as they finally broke their semi-final jinx and reached the final of a major ICC event.
