Afghanistan’s fairytale turns nightmare, South Africa march to maiden T20 World Cup final with crushing win

It took 18 World Cups and 32 years for the South African men’s cricket to team to reach a final. Mocked as the perennial chokers of the cricket world, South Africa would, at last, have their shot at glory and redemption that the cricketing pundits believe was long overdue on June 29 in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados.

Their opponents will only be known after India play England in the semi-final later in the day in Guyana but at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, it was all South Africa. The Proteas put a never-before-seen display with the ball to end Afghanistan’s fairytale run in the tournament. It was a first victory in eight short-format World Cup semi-finals going back to 1992 for the Proteas.

“Awesome feeling. The guys played really well, we executed perfectly. We just wanted to stick to our plan, bowl good lengths and see how the wicket reacts. The wicket was getting a bit open, and it was about keeping it simple,” said Player of the Match Marco Jansen.

The left-arm pacer orchestrated the Afghanistan collapse with the new ball, picking three wickets in the powerplay to finish with figures of 3/16. His new ball partner, Kagiso Rabada, was not far behind. His double-wicket maiden in the fourth over of the match broke the backbone of Afghanistan’s batting order.

Jansen and Rabada helped South Africa to become the first team to take five wickets inside the powerplay in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

There was no respite for Afghanistan after the powerplay as Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi joined hands to claim the remaining five wickets and bowl Afghanistan out for 56 – their lowest in T20Is and the lowest ever in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

South Africa’s batting has stuttered at times during the tournament and Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Quinton de Kock early, but Reeza Hendricks and skipper Aiden Markram got the Proteas to their target without further losses inside nine overs.

Afghanistan, playing their first semi-final after a thrilling victory over Bangladesh in their last Super Eight match in St Vincent on Monday, won the toss and chose to bat.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the highest run-scorer at the tournament, and Ibrahim Zadran had been the mainstay of the Afghan batting with three century opening partnerships on their fairytale run to the last four.

Left-arm quick Jansen (3-16) 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 Kagiso 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 left-arm wrist spinner Shamsi (3-6) mopped up the tail as Afghanistan became the first team to score fewer than 100 runs in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

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.

The tournament’s leading wicket taker, left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi, made de Kock his 17th victim by swinging a ball in at the opener and shattering his stumps in the second over.

Hendricks (29 not out) and Markram (23 not out), 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.