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THE TIMES OF INDIA | Jun 27, 2024, 06:29:15 IST
South Africa vs Afghanistan, Semi-final 1 T20 World Cup 2024: Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bat first as his team bid to extend their fairytale T20 World Cup run with a semi-final victory over South Africa in Trinidad. Both teams are unchanged from their last matches with the Afghans relieved that key opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has recovered sufficiently from a leg injury which kept him off the field in the pulsating final minutes of the narrow win over Bangladesh on Monday night in St Vincent to reach a first senior World Cup semi-final. South Africa have played unbeaten through the tournament but remain haunted by previous experiences when they stumbled in the semi-finals in pursuit of the title in a senior men's global tournament. The Proteas have competed in seven semi-finals over both short format World Cups but have never reached a title match, although they will be happy to avoid Australia this time around having lost to them three times in the last four. The perennial under-achievers of international cricket are on a hot streak, with solid bowling displays helping them power through the group and Super Eight stages. Their batting has impressed Aiden Markram less, however, and the South Africa captain is looking to that area for improvement ahead of their semi-final in Trinidad. South Africa will be encouraged by how several players have stepped up in tense situations to keep their 100% record intact after seven matches so far and they will eye another collective effort to subdue Afghanistan. After stunning Australia in their penultimate Super Eight match, the plucky Afghans ensured the 2021 champions were sent packing from the tournament with a dramatic eight-run win over Bangladesh on Monday to join India in advancing from Group 1. Afghanistan's maiden World Cup semi-final appearance is a sign of how much the sport has grown in the war-torn country and skipper Rashid Khan's side, who also upset New Zealand earlier in the tournament, will target another statement victory. They failed to register a single win in the last edition of the tournament but were still tipped to make the last four this time around by West Indies great Brian Lara, after whom the Tarouba venue for the semi-final is named. Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been a key player for Afghanistan, leading the scoring table with 281 runs, and his three century opening stands with Ibrahim Zadran have proved invaluable. Fazalhaq Farooqi leads the bowling charts with 16 wickets while Rashid has 14, and the pair will be heavily relied upon to pull off yet another upset in Trinidad. Should Afghanistan prevail, they will play the winners of the other semi-final between 2007 champions India and holders England, who face off in Guyana.
SA vs AFG Live Score: Afghanistan 5 down in 5 overs
SA vs AFG Live Score: Marco Jansen strikes again to take his third wicket having Nangeyalia Kharote caught behind by Quinton de Kock down the leg side. Afghanistan 5 down inside the powerplay
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada double strikes dent Afghanistan
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Marco Jansen clean bowled Gulbadin Naib with a delivery that shaped in a bit and in the next over, Kagiso Rabada rattles the stumps of Ibrahim Zadran through the gate before dismissing Mohammad Nabi in an identical manner. Afghanistan 4 down already
SA vs AFG Live Score: Marco Jansen sends back Rahmanullah Gurbaz early
SA vs AFG Live Score: Marco Jansen has Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught by Reeza Hendricks at first slip to give South Africa an early breakthrough against Afghanistan
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: ALL SET!
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran walk out to open the batting for Afghanistan, Marco Jansen first up with the new ball for South Africa
West Indies game was a brilliant game, our two spinners and Markram bowled as well, we need to sum up the conditions as quickly as possible. KG has never bowled so late in an innings, he came onto bowl in the 18th over of the innings. We need to stay in the moment and do our best. It’s very important, we have been playing around with Shamsi, Baartman has also missed some games. You don’t exactly know how the wicket is going to be, it’s about being as smart as possible. (On how does Franchise cricket help) It definitely does, not everyone plays everyone, some experienced players also don’t play other experienced players, it’s great to get footage, it definitely does help.
Anrich Nortje
SA vs AFG Live Score: STAT
SA vs AFG Live Score: At this venue, this is the first time a team won the toss and opted to bat first in 5 matches this World Cup. In those previous 4 matches, the chasing team won three. The average score batting first is 95 runs in those 4 games
We would have probably batted first as well but it's a fresh wicket. We haven't nailed it quite with the bat yet, conditions have been tough. Hopefully, we will do well with the bat and ball and step up in the semi-final. Same team for us.
Aiden Markram
We would like to bat first, it's a fresh wicket and we will like to have a good total on the board. The middle-order hasn't got much time in the middle, they have to come out in the 15-16th over and it's not easy. It's good that the top-order has taken responsibility and they have batted very well. When you have a 4-hour delay flight, it's not easy. Doesn't matter if you sleep 1 hour, you have to be at your best. We are going with the same lineup.
Rashid Khan
South Africa XI
South Africa XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
Afghanistan XI
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan(c), Nangeyalia Kharote, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Afghanistan opt to bat against South Africa
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan wins toss, opts to bat against South Africa
South Africa vs Afghanistan
SA vs AFG Live Score: Two Afghanistan players at the top
SA vs AFG Live Score: Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz leads the batting chart with 281 runs, while Farooqi is on top of the bowling list with 16 scalps and it is a story in itself as how two Afghanistan players have raced past some marquee names to the top of the stats table
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: Multiple heroes
South Africa vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup Live Score: There were multiple heroes -- skipper Rashid Khan has been immense throughout, pacers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq have given early breakthroughs, Gulbadin Naib conjured a miraculous spell against the Aussies while Mohammad Nabi remained perseverant
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