Tarouba (Trinidad): South Africa booked a berth in their maiden final across the World Cups beating Afghanistan by nine wickets in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Chasing an easy target of 57 was a cakewalk for the South African side as they recovered well after an early blow. Quinton de Kock was dismissed on five by Fazalhaq Farooqi and that might have ignited a glimmer of hope in the Afghan bowling unit. But the total of 56 was too low to defend and the duo of Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks ensured that there wouldn’t be any more fall of wickets with a 55-run partnership for the second wicket. Markram scored an unbeaten 23 runs while Hendricks scored 29 runs to help South Africa enter their maiden final across the World Cups.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan opted to bat after winning the toss but the decision turned out to be costly for the team as the surface assisted pacers with an uneven bounce. The Afghan batters were unable to handle the heat from the South Africa pace bowlers and some spicy deliveries shattered the timber time and again. Marco Jansen ripped apart the top order taking three wickets while Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje decimated the middle order taking two wickets each. Tabraiz Shamsi took the wickets from lower order and that concluded the Afghanistan innings on a meagre total of 56. Afghanistan also registered their lowest total in the T20Is.
With the win, South Africa entered their maiden final of the marquee tournament for the first time after appearing in 17 World Cups. The team will now lock horns with the winner of the India vs England fixture which is to be played on June 27.
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