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.
Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 for 6) and pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) spearheaded the rout of Afghanistan’s brittle batting line-up 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 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad. 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.
However, Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) and captain Aiden Markram (23 not out) saw them to victory at 60 for one off 8.5 overs.
“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.
Only Azmatullah Omarzai (10) got into double-figures for the Afghans while their highest contribution to the paltry total was 13 extras.
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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. Afghan skipper Rashid Khan said his team would look back on their campaign with pride and belief for the future.
“We came here before the tournament and if you told us we would be playing the semi-final against South Africa, we would accept that,” Rashid said. “We are capable of beating any side. Next time when we participate in a tournament like this, we will have the belief.”
