South Africa will play World Cup final first time after defeating Afghanistan

South Africa will play World Cup final first time after defeating Afghanistan

Cricket News, Update daily, South Africa has made history by reaching the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final for the first time after defeating Afghanistan by 9 wickets

AFG 56 (11.5)
RSA 60/1 (8.5)
South Africa won by 9 wkts
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Marco Jansen

Starting with the first World Cup in 1992, semi-final after semi-final. The team has changed, the field has changed, the opponent has also changed. Only one thing did not change - the semi-final meant defeat for South Africa. South Africa have bounced back from semi-finals five times in the ODI World Cup, two and seven in the T20 World Cup. Sometimes they blame bad luck, sometimes they have to accept the 'chokers' slander, sometimes they themselves think that the final will not be played again someday.
What it failed to do seven times, it did in the eighth by blowing out Afghanistan in the most one-sided World Cup semi-final in history. A match, an innings after which the award ceremony can be done. Many surprises happen in cricket. So Afghanistan will win even if they score 56 runs - cricket is not such a wonderful game.

There are also three scores less than this in World T20. But none of them are in the semi-finals. A World Cup semi-final has never seen a score of less than 100 runs before. This is the lowest score in any T20I knockout match. Afghanistan have never scored so few runs in a T20 before.

Winning the toss and taking the batting is tomorrow? The wicket is very much alive during South Africa's innings. Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazlhaq Farooqui explained that if South Africa had to bat first, they would not have been in a very favorable position. A dream wicket for the pacers with the combination of pace-bounce-movement. Aiden Markram must have breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Jansen-Rabada-Norkia dance, luckily, I lost the toss. If he won the toss, he decided to bat first.

Wickets must have played a big role in Afghanistan's collapse; With the excellent bowling of the South Africans. Is there another reason for the invisible? Before this match, the Afghans did not have time to settle properly from the current of emotions that carried them away after winning that tumultuous match against Bangladesh in St. Vincent. The match ended after 1 am. Return to the hotel at 3 pm. Flight from Saint Vincent to Trinidad at 8 am. In other words, without getting a day's rest, he had to go down to the field again. Which is again the biggest match in Afghanistan's cricket history. The first semi-final in the World Cup.

Coming down from the height of emotions, Afghanistan got the time to think about stability! Batting on such a wicket again. Mental state affects batting more than bowling. If bowling first, who knows, Afghanistan would have had time to collect themselves!

But why Rashid Khan will go to do it! All of Afghanistan's big wins in this World Cup have been batting first. After two openers, there is nothing to say about the batting. Before the semi-final, the opening pair of Gurbaz-Zardan put up the highest T20 World Cup total of 442 runs. All the remaining pairs of Afghanistan have a combined total of 521 runs. How will Rashid Khan decide to chase runs despite the plight of the next batsmen? On top of that, bowling is the main strength of his team. There will be a chance if you can get roughly one run on the scoreboard. And the word 'C' that has been chasing South Africa for so many years, it shows more during the run chase.

But the Afghan bowlers did not get any capital to fight. Gurbaz-Zardan, who made the maximum 4 50-run partnership in T20 World Cup history, got separated in the first over today. Gurbaz went for zero runs. Rabada's first ball to Zardan. In the same over, Rabada also picked up Mohammad Nabi's double wicket maiden. What happened next was pure destruction. Afghan batsmen come and go. Such was the contest back in the dugout that at one point the South Africans celebrated after the fall of a wicket! The break in the middle is not falling!

A scorecard like a telephone number, in which the highest score belongs to Azmatullah Omarzai. Afghanistan's only batsman to reach double figures. No, not Omarzai's highest score of the innings. Mr. Extra has 3 runs more than him. Omarzai 10, extra 13.

This stadium named after Brian Lara is about 50 km from Port of Spain. It takes about two hours to reach the field from the city by car. A stadium so beautifully arranged that the boredom disappears in an instant. The semi-final, which did not feel any heat in Port of Spain, is being celebrated outside the stadium. Drums are playing. Young people dressed in colorful clothes are dancing on chariots. The DJ is playing one song after another in a big soundbox in a big van. After the games started, the festivities moved to the gallery. Loud music plays, the audience dances to its beat. Not bad numbers considering such an unglamorous semi-final.

That song continues to play long after the match is over. Which sounds very sweet to South African ears. Afghanistan may be intolerable. But why stop the music? When the match is over, the first innings is supposed to be over!