T20 World Cup 2024, AFG vs SA 1st Semi-Final Match Report, June 26, 2024

South Africa 60 for 1 (Hendricks 29*, Farooqi 1-11) beat Afghanistan 56 (Omarzai 10, Shamsi 3-6, Jansen 3-16) by nine wickets

For a team infamous for playing jittery cricket in the knockouts, this win was dominant and clinical. South Africa left next to nothing to chance. They bowled beautifully, fielded well, and weathered some difficult early overs while pouncing on the loose balls.

As their reward, they have their first ever berth in a men’s World Cup final, and continued their unbeaten run in the tournament, which now is up to eight matches. The margin of victory, by nine wickets and with 67 balls remaining, underscored the control they exerted on this match, from start to finish.

Jansen and Rabada rip out the top order

Rabada’s first over sent Afghanistan really into a nosedive. He jagged two balls back and hit timber on both occasions. The ball that clipped the top of Ibrahim Zadran’s middle stump was the killer – Ibrahim at that point was Afghanistan’s best hope of getting to a good score. Fourth ball, he took out Mohammad Nabi’s off stump with an even more stunning delivery. That over was a double-wicket maiden.

Nortje and Shamsi do the rest

Shamsi bowled a leg-stump line to the right-handers and kept getting them lbw as the balls rushed onto them. They reviewed all three decisions, but the on-field umpires had given them out, and umpires’ calls on impact were good enough.

Farooqi and Naveen can’t wreck South Africa’s top order

And Naveen should have had Markram the next over, but most of Afghanistan’s players didn’t hear the thin edge to the wicketkeeper, and Rashid wasn’t sure enough of it to review the decision.

Markram and Hendricks take the chase home

There were still testing moments, as the pitch continued to play up, still often keeping low. But whenever Afghanistan bowled poor deliveries, South Africa’s batters pounced. The fifth over itself yielded 13 runs – more than a fifth of the target. South Africa got home in the ninth over, sparking restrained celebrations, even though this was a historic victory for them.