In the 1st Semi Final of ICC T20 World Cup 2024, South Africa demolished Afghanistan…
After winning the toss, Afghanistan chose to bat first on a very difficult wicket. Posting only 56 runs, South Africa chased it very easily, losing just 1 wicket.
South Africa has finally broken the jinx of getting knocked out in the semi-finals of the ICC World Cups. They’ve finally qualified for the Final of an ICC event for the 1st time after South Africa beats Afghanistan in a chaotic semi-final.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram: “It feels good. It’s not really the captain that gets you to this stage of the competition, it’s a massive squad effort and people behind the scenes. I’m chuffed we have one more crack at winning a trophy.”
On the bowling performance: “Special. We were fortunate to have lost the toss, we also would have batted so we got a bit of luck. But the bowlers still had to get the ball in the right areas.
“They did that and made it tough for the Afghanistan batters. Credit to them, they’ve been incredible for us throughout the competition, kept things really simple, assessed conditions and adapted accordingly.”
On batting conditions: “Quite tough. A batter won’t lie and say when it is going up and down, it doesn’t play a role in your mind. But we knew it was a matter of a partnership.”
On reaching the final: “This is as tough as it gets really. One more step, it’s an exciting challenge for us. We’ve never been there before but it’s nothing to be scared of. It’s an opportunity that we’ve never had and we’ll be really excited about it.
“We feel we’ve been playing really good cricket for a couple of years now, have some world-class players in the group and it takes a full squad to put together a really good cricket game.
“Obviously there are external pressures but we’re trying to keep it simple and that should give us a good chance.”
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan: “It was a tough, tough match for us as a team. We might have done a bit better than that. But the conditions didn’t let us. That’s what T20 is about, you’ve got to be ready for any situation. They bowled exceptionally well, we couldn’t bat well.
READ MORE: Afghanistan creates history, defeats Bangladesh in a thrilling 8-run win
“We have enjoyed a lot. To reach the semi-final and play one of the best teams in South Africa we’d have taken that. We responded well to a tough situation and beat big teams in this competition. It’s just the start for us, we can beat any team if we can keep it simple.
“It’s about managing yourself in a pressure situation, you’re going to face teams, tough bowlers. It’s a learning for us as a team, especially in the middle order, we need to be more aggressive and we need someone who can take the innings deep, we can’t always rely on the top order.”