A ruthless South Africa thrashed Afghanistan in the first semi-final of T20 World Cup 2024 held at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. The South African pacers wreaked havoc to bundle the Asian cricketing nation out for only 56 in an innings that lasted only 11.5 overs. While Fazalhaq Farooqi claimed Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks weren't going to prevent a comfortable nine-wicket win for their side.
The toss fell in favour of Afghan skipper Rashid Khan, who opted to field first. However, the pitch was never what the Afghan batters would have imagined, conducive to seam as Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje exploited the conditions to significant effect. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, the linchpin of Afghanistan's road to the finals, departed for single-figure scores in the power play.
Azmatullah Omarzai was the only Afghan batter to reach double-figures with 10 as the Proteas left themselves with only 57 to chase down.
South Africa make it to their maiden World Cup final:
The nine-wicket win in Tarouba also proved to be South Africa's first entry into any semi-final of a World Cup edition. Farooqi struck in his first over to see the back of De Kock for 6, forcing Markram and Hendricks to also make a watchful start on a deck that kept playing tricks.
At the same time, the duo kept clocking up boundaries to keep the Proteas in the hunt in the paltry chase. Hendricks finished off the run-chase with a boundary as South Africa await India or England as their opponents in the final.
