ICC T20 World Cup: South Africa reached the World Cup final for the first time

ICC T20 World Cup: South Africa reached the World Cup final for the first time

England has become the first team to reach the T20 World Cup 2024 by defeating Afghanistan in the semi-finals. With this win, South Africa entered a World Cup final for the first time and erased the stain of chokers on the team. The South African team has been eliminated from the semi-finals of ODIs 5 times and T20 World Cups 2 times.

Now the second team to reach the final will be decided at 8 pm. When the teams of India and England will face each other at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The chances of the match have also increased, as the chances of rain have reduced to 40%.

After winning the toss at Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, Afghanistan batted first and were all out for 56 runs. South Africa achieved this target by losing 1 wicket. Reeza Hendricks scored 29 runs. Marco Jansen, who took 3 wickets in 3 overs, became the man of the match.

South Africa started playing the World Cup in 1992, and reached the final after 32 years. It reached the semi-finals in the very first World Cup i.e. 1992. In 1999, the semi-final between South Africa and Australia was drawn. Australia reached the final because Australia was above South Africa in the table in the Super-6 matches.

Winner of the Match- Marco Jansen

Aiden Markram gave the first over to Marco Jansen. Jansen had given 4 runs in 5 balls. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was on strike on the sixth ball. Jansen bowled a delivery that left the off stumps. It was a fuller ball that took the edge of the bat and went into the hands of Reeza Hendricks. Afghanistan lost the wicket of its biggest batsman in the very first over. Rahmanullah has scored the most runs for Afghanistan in this World Cup, 281. Jansen bowled Gulbadin Naib in the second over. The ball came in slightly and hit the stumps after hitting the bat. In the 5th over, Janson sent Nangyal Kharoti to the pavilion. The ball was short and outside the leg stump. Kharoti played a shot and the ball hit the gloves and hit De Kock's hands.

Afghanistan openers failed

Afghanistan team played 8 matches in this World Cup including the semi-final. It lost in 3 matches, against India, against West Indies and against South Africa. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai failed against India. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out on zero against West Indies. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out on zero and Ibrahim Zadran got out on 2 runs against South Africa.

Openers played a big role in the big teams against which Afghanistan won. Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 80 and Ibrahim Zadran scored 44 against New Zealand. Both the openers scored fifties against Australia. Gurbaz and Zadran gave a good start against Bangladesh. Gurbaz scored 43 runs. Afghanistan won all three matches.

That is, the openers played the biggest role in Afghanistan's victory, the team lost the matches in which they failed.

Won the toss on a difficult pitch, but the decision was wrong

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan won the toss at Brian Lara Ground in Trinidad. He chose to bat on such a pitch, where the team chasing the runs won 4 out of 5 matches in this World Cup. In all the five matches, no team could touch a total of 150. The lowest target on this pitch in the World Cup is 40 runs, which Uganda made against New Zealand.

The pitch of Brian Lara Stadium had uneven bounce. There was grass as well as cracks on it, which are beneficial for the pacers. After winning the toss, Afghanistan chose to bat, but South Africa took advantage of such a pitch.

Due to not understanding the behavior of the pitch, Afghanistan's chances of winning decreased. The team was all out for 56, which was a very modest total for South Africa.

 

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