Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup dream has been crushed after South Africa’s quicks wreaked havoc during the first semi-final at Tarouba’s Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
The undefeated Proteas thumped Afghanistan by nine wickets in a one-sided contest on Thursday AEST, chasing a measly 57-run target with 67 balls to spare.
Earlier, Afghanistan collapsed to 6-28 in the seventh over after captain Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bowl first, with South Africa quicks Marco Jansen (3-16) and Kagiso Rabada (2-14) ripping through the top order on a volatile deck.
MATCH CENTRE: Afghanistan vs South Africa live scorecard
Karim Janat and Khan briefly steadied the ship with a 22-run partnership for the seventh wicket before spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3-6) and speedster Anrich Nortje (2-7) cleaned up the tail.
Afghanistan was rolled for 56 in just 11.5 overs, the nation’s lowest team total in T20Is.
Lowest team score in Men’s T20 World Cup knockouts
56 – Afghanistan vs RSA, 2024
101 – West Indies vs SL, 2009
101 – Sri Lanka vs WI, 2012
7-123 – Pakistan vs SL, 2012
6-128 – Sri Lanka vs ENG, 2010
South Africa’s run chase got off to shaky start when wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was bowled by Afghanistan seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi in the second over for 5.
However, Afghanistan neglected to review a caught-behind chance off Naveen-ul-Haq’s bowling the following over, handing Proteas captain Aiden Markram a massive reprieve on zero.
Markram (23 not out) combined with opener Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) for an unbeaten 55-run partnership for the second wicket to secure South Africa’s first victory in a World Cup semi-final after eight attempts.
“It was a tough night for us,” Khan said during the post-match presentation.
“Before the tournament, if we had been told we’d be in the semi-final, we would have accepted that.
“It’s just the beginning for us … we have the belief we can beat any side on our day.”
Afghanistan was given less than 48 hours to prepare for the must-win semi-final against South Africa following Tuesday’s dramatic Super Eight victory against Bangladesh in Kingstown, which concluded after 1am local time.
To make matters worse, the team’s flight from St Vincent to Trinidad and Tobago was delayed by four hours.
However, Khan confessed that his teammates made no attempt to get any sleep after qualifying for the semi-finals, choosing instead celebrating the rain-affected triumph over Bangladesh.
“Nobody has slept,” Khan told the ICC.
“The whole night we were up.
“We celebrated a lot.”
Afghanistan and South Africa were allocated the first semi-final because ICC guidelines stipulated that India would be guaranteed Friday’s match, which occurs during primetime for South Asian broadcasters, if they qualified for the knockouts.
Afghanistan’s journey to the T20 World Cup semi-finals has been one of the feel-good stories of the tournament, with the Asian nation toppling the likes of New Zealand and Australia to qualify for the knockouts of an ICC event for the first time.
However, Afghan batter Najibullah Zadran couldn’t resist mocking star bowler Pat Cummins on social media after Australia was eliminated from the tournament.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Cummins was asked which nations he thought would qualify for the semi-finals, providing a diplomatic answer.
“Definitely Australia,” Cummins responded with a smile.
“And then can choose whichever three you want to.”
Less than two hours after Afghanistan’s victory over Bangladesh, Zadran decided the time was right to taunt Cummins on Twitter.
Afghanistan coach Jonathon Trott also took a swipe at South Africa’s infamous record in ICC knockouts ahead of Thursday’s semi-final.
“We go into the semi-final with no scarring or no history with regards to semi-finals,” Trott said.
“This is uncharted territory for us. We’re just going to go out there and give it our all.
“There’s no preconceived ideas on it all, or history of failure or success in semi-finals in past years.
“For us it’s a new challenge and I think that makes us dangerous in the semi-finals as a side with nothing to lose and obviously a lot of pressure on the opposition.”
South Africa will face either India or England in Sunday morning’s T20 World Cup final at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, with the first ball scheduled for 12.30am AEST.
