The Protea fire is indeed burning bright. It was in full rage at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy ground at Tarouba, leaving absolutely no chance for Afghanistan to survive in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup. Courtesy, their most commanding win of the tournament, Aiden Markram has managed to achieve what no South Africa captain has ever done before. After faltering in seven semifinals of World Cups, including two in the T20s (2009 & 2014), South Africa now have made their first final appearance. The rainbow is finally close to being complete.
From the moment Ricky Ponting and Shaun Pollock had a ring side view of the pitch, which had patches of grass and cracks, especially on the good length area, the warning signs were there to see. That there even some grass inside the cracks showed the new strip being used for the match is going to offer movement and it could well come down to the toss. And even the bounce on offer made it a questionable choice of condition for a semifinal. In the first innings, one delivery from Anrich Nortje, beat Karim Janat’s top-edge and flew over Quinton de Kock’s gloves for four byes. And by the second innings, deliveries from a good length were beginning to shoot low.
And surprisingly, after winning the toss, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan chose to bat first, only to see South Africa Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada reduce them to 23/5 by the end of the fifth over before they were bundled out for 56 in 11.5 overs. The formalities were completed by the Proteas in 8.5 overs as they won by nine wickets.
Playing an important semi-final just 48 hours after a historic night at St Vincent seemed too much for Afghanistan. After a four-hour flight delay, they arrived at Trinidad only on the eve of the game, leaving them with no real chance of having a practice session to even access the conditions at this new stadium, which sits on the skirts of Port of Spain. The rigours of tournament cricket are still new to them. And in ICC events it is all the more demanding, especially short turnovers like this ahead of a knockout match.
Given all of this in the backdrop, fielding first could have helped Afghanistan calm their nerves, particularly if one considers the struggles of the South Africa batsmen against their spinners. But, having won four of their five matches at this World Cup while batting first, it was entirely possible that Afghanistan wanted to be in the comfort zone of defending a total. It is what their spinners relish, especially on decks where there is assistance of the bowlers.
Whatever it was once they were out in the middle apart from the seam movement that was on offer, Afghanistan’s batsmen too added to their own downfall. Barring Gulbadin Naib who came in at No 3, their top five were all tentative to the movement on offer and Jansen and Rabada didn’t need any second invitation. The movement on offer did come as a surprise to South Africa as well, who called on left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj to deliver the second over before going back to the seamers.
It was Jansen, who calmly took them to the semifinals with a cameo with the bat against the West Indies, who started the slide for Afghanistan. Having started with a slip and a leg slip in place, the tall left-arm pacer mixed it up with in-swingers and one that shaped away right through that over. But it was off the final ball of the first over where he got the line and length totally spot on as Rahmanullah Gurbaz went for a drive only, only to edge it to Reeza Hendricks at first slip.
Off his next over, Jansen once again struggled to get his line and even bowled a short one that Gulbadin had trouble to put it away for a boundary. But off his third, got the control back, as he made this one to curve in from the middle and off stump channel. It beat Gulbadin’s defence, which had enough space for the ball to sneak in.
Watching Jansen get the movement, Markram called on Rabada, who straightaway hit the right line and length which would target the top of off-stump. Off the first ball, Ibrahim Zardan ended up losing his off-stump as he just prodded the bat out without any real foot movement. Those faces in Afghanistan that showed a variety of emotions on Monday night, looked shell shocked on Wednesday (Thursday IST). It would only get worse as Mohammad Nabi suffered the same fate as Zardan three deliveries later. This one from Rabada, which nipped back in sharply, would have taken down any top-class batsmen even in Test cricket.
South Africa were in no mood to release the stranglehold. They went for the kill, making Jansen bowl his third in the powerplay. Like his two oves before this, he altered with his incoming ones and the ones that went with the angle. And off the last, which appeared to slide down the leg, somehow Nangeyalia Kharote managed to nick it to De Kock. At 23/5, Afghanistan needed at least to reach three figures to make a contest out of this.
But thereafter, like Jansen and Rabada before him, Nortje too made an impact in his first over. Azmatullah Omarzai tried to break the shackles, but picked the fielder at deep cover.And for the first time in the evening, Afghanistan would go two consecutive overs unscathed in the eighth and ninth. But off the three overs, with wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shami joining the party, and picking up three wickets (all LBW), Afghanistan would lose four more to crash land to 56 all out – their lowest in all T20Is in what was their high point of their cricketing journey.
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