TAROUBA: South Africa demolished Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup dream in ruthless fashion on Wednesday, thrashing the minnows by nine wickets with more than 11 overs to spare to reach the final of the cricket showpiece for the first time.

It was a first victory in eight short-format World Cup semi-finals going back to 1992 for South Africa.

The perennial underachievers looked anything but as they ripped through the brittle Afghan batting line-up at the Brian Lara Stadium to restrict their shellshocked opponents to their lowest ever score in T20 internationals.

Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3-6) and gangling pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) spearheaded the rout of Afghanistan bundled out for just 56 off 11.5 overs after they chose to bat. Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje maintained the relentless pressure with two wickets apiece.

On a surface which encouraged all bowlers but left Afghanistan with too little to defend, South Africa lost Quinton de Kock early in reply for Fazalhaq Farooqi’s tournament-leading 17th wicket.

But Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) and captain Aiden Markram (23 not out) saw them to victory at 60-1 off 8.5 overs to advance the Proteas to Saturday’s final in Barbados.

“Really chuffed for us to have one more crack at lifting a trophy,” Markram said. “A lot of our games have been really close and I know there’s a lot of people back at home in the early hours of the morning waking up, and we’ve given them a lot of grey hairs.

“So hopefully this evening was a little bit more comforting for them.”

Only Azmatullah Omarzai (10) got into double-figures for the Afghans while their highest contribution to the paltry total was 13 extras in a thoroughly deflating effort following Monday’s pulsating drama when they pipped Bangladesh in St. Vincent to reach the final four.

Throughout this dream run to their first semi-final of a senior men’s world tournament Afghanistan have been reliant on openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran to give them a solid platform and at the same time mask the frailties of the rest of the batting line-up.

But when Jansen had Gurbaz taken at slip by Hendricks without scoring in the first over of the match, the worst fears of the Afghans and a growing mass of supporters in the Caribbean were realised as the Proteas mercilessly exploited their opponents’ technical deficiencies.

“We assessed pretty early that the wicket was giving us something to work with so it was just about sticking to our plans, keeping it simple and getting the results,” Man of the Match Jansen said of South Africa’s bowling display, which effectively ended the match as a contest.

Jansen removed Gurbaz for a duck with just four runs on the board in the opening over, however, and returned in the third over to bowl Gulbadin Naib for nine.

There was no respite from the other end as paceman Rabada (2-14) found a nice line and length to bowl Zadran and Mohammad Nabi for a couple of runs apiece in the fourth over.

The third quick Anrich Nortje (2-7) chipped in with a couple of wickets and Shamsi mopped up the tail as Afghanistan became the first team to score fewer than 100 runs in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

For Markram, who led South Africa to the Under-19 men’s title in 2014 in Dubai, it was all about making the most of good luck.

“I was fortunate to have lost the toss, I guess, because we also would have batted. But still the bowlers had to get it in the right areas and they did that,” he explained. “It’s not really the captain who gets you to this stage of a competition. It’s a massive squad effort involving those behind the scenes and off the field.”

This will be South Africa’s first senior men’s final since the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998 when the side led by Hansie Cronje defeated Brian Lara’s West Indies team in the title match.

BLEAK PROSPECTS

Afghanistan have been rewarded at this tournament for never giving up however bleak their prospects and their bowlers made it clear that the South African batsmen would have to earn their place in the final.

Farooqi swung a ball in at de Kock to shatter his stumps in the second over. Hendricks and Markram though, were happy to play through dot balls and await their chances to score as they inched towards their modest target.

Opener Hendricks got them across the line with a six off a free hit and a four in successive balls to extend South Africa’s winning streak at the tournament to eight matches.

It was a disappointing end to a dream tournament for Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, who led his team to wins over New Zealand and Australia on their way to the semi-finals.

“It was a tough, tough night for us as a team ... they bowled exceptionally well,” he said. “I think at the start of the tournament if you had said we would reach the semi-finals and play one of the best teams, we would have accepted that.

“It’s just the beginning for us. We’ve got that kind of confidence we want, and the belief that we can beat any side on a day.”

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2024