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Follow UsMarco Jansen’s double-strike jolts Afghanistan
In the very first over of the game, Marco Jansen tilted the clash in South Africa’s favour by dismissing the lynchpin and nucleus of Afghanistan’s batting, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, for a duck.
In his next over, Jansen doubled down on that by sending the dangerous Gulbadin Naib packing with an absolute pearl.
At 16/2 in 2.3, Afghanistan were on the back foot right away.
The Rabada first over that sealed the deal
Jansen set it up, and Kagiso Rabada walked in and finished the job.
Rabada’s first over in this game was his best in this T20WC, yet, with the right-armer dismissing both Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Nabi with unplayable peaches that castled the stumps. The 29-year-old found extravagant seam movement that simply proved too good for both Zadran and Nabi.
At 20/4, with all key batters back in the hut, this game was already close to being done and dusted.
Tabraiz Shamsi cleans up the tail
From 28/6, all South Africa needed to do was ensure that Afghanistan’s tail did not wag.
And they did just that, courtesy Tabraiz Shamsi, who picked three wickets in 11 balls as Afghanistan got bowled out for 56, the lowest-ever total in a knockout game in World Cup history.
Shamsi’s three-fer made it three 3+ wicket hauls in this T20WC in four games. Only Fazalhaq Faroooqi (4) has taken more in a single edition.
South Africa make light work of the target
Unlike the West Indies clash, there were no nervous moments in the chase for the Proteas. They lost Quinton de Kock early but still romped home with 67 balls to spare, registering the fastest chase in a T20WC knockout game.
With that, the Proteas ensured they made their first-ever World Cup final, 33 years after playing their first white-ball game, back in 1991 against India.
Dangerous Trinidad pitch leaves a lot to be desired
You ideally want a very good wicket for a semi-final clash, but the surface in Trinidad left a lot to be desired.
Extravagant seam movement is fine, but there was plenty of uneven bounce. There were plenty of balls that landed on a full length and then took off and threatened to fly over the wicket-keeper’s head.
In the second innings, de Kock was, in fact, pinged on the face by a good length delivery, on just the very second ball.
It’s a borderline miracle that all the players exited the contest unscathed, without getting injured.
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