South Africa beat Afghanistan to reach T20 World Cup final

South Africa put an end to Afghanistan’s dream of playing in the T20 World Cup in a ruthless manner on Wednesday, beating the little boys by nine wickets with more than 11 overs to go to reach the final of the cricketing event for the first time.

Left-handed wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 off 6) and lanky pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) were the driving forces behind the vulnerable Afghanistan batting team’s defeat by just 56 runs from 11.5 overs after they decided to bat .

Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje kept the pressure on with two wickets each at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.

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

But Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) and captain Aiden Markram (23 not out) made sure they won 60-60 in just 8.5 overs, sending the Proteas through to Saturday’s final in Barbados. There they will face the winners of the second semi-final in Guyana on Thursday, between title holders England and undefeated India.

“We came to the conclusion quite early on that the wicket gave us something to work with, so it was about sticking to our plans, keeping it simple and getting the results,” Man of the Match Jansen said of the South African bowling display, which effectively ended the match as a match.

Only Azmatullah Omarzai (10) reached double figures for the Afghans, while their highest contribution to the paltry total was thirteen extras in a thoroughly deflating effort after Monday’s pulsating drama as they defeated Bangladesh in St Vincent to reach the last four reaches.

In this dream run to their first semi-final of a senior men’s world tournament, Afghanistan have relied on openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran to provide them with a solid platform while masking the weaknesses of the rest of the batting line-up. .

– ‘A tough night for us’ –

But when Jansen contained Gurbaz in the first over of the match by Hendricks and failed to score, the worst fears of the Afghans and a growing base of supporters in the Caribbean were realized. The Proteas mercilessly took advantage of their opponents’ technical shortcomings.

“It was a tough night for us as a team, but that’s how it goes in T20s,” Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said.

“You have to be mentally ready for any situation. They bowled exceptionally and we just couldn’t bat well.”

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

“I was lucky to have lost the toss, I think, because we would have batted too. But still, the bowlers had to get the toss in the right areas and they did that,” he explained.

“It’s not really the captain that gets you to this stage of a competition. It’s a huge team effort involving people behind the scenes and off the pitch.”

This is the first senior men’s final in South Africa since the first Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998, when the Hansie Cronje-led team defeated Brian Lara’s West Indies team in the final.

Afghanistan captain Rashid said his team looks back on the campaign with pride and is confident about the future.

“We came here before the tournament and if you told us we would play the semi-final against South Africa, we would accept it,” Rashid said. “We are capable of winning any match.

“Next time we play a tournament like this, we will have the belief. It’s about how you handle yourself in those stressful situations against strong teams.

“There is a lot of hard work to be done, especially in the middle order… We have had some good results but when we come back to the tournament we have to do better, especially in the batting department.”

str/rcw