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South Africa choked at the crunch moment once again and suffered a shocking defeat against the Netherlands on November 06 (Sunday) at the Adelaide Oval. The Dutch shattered the dreams of South Africa and knocked them out of the semi-final race while enhancing their chances of securing automatic qualification for the next edition of the T20 World Cup. The Proteas just had to defeat minnows Netherlands in their last group fixture but ended up losing the game by 13 runs.
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said the ouster from the T20 World Cup was a 'hard one to swallow' as the Proteas choked in yet another ICC tournament.
"Hard one to swallow. We had the confidence and belief in ourselves as a unit to make the play-offs," a disappointed Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.
Their shock defeat handed Pakistan and Bangladesh a lifeline as the former went on to seal the semi-final birth by beating the latter by five wickets. The result also sealed India's last-four berth ahead of their concluding Group 2 match against Zimbabwe.
"Unfortunately for us, we couldn't do it. Winning the toss and bowling, what they got wasn't ideal. We lost wickets at crucial times. They used the dimensions of the field a lot better than we did," he added.
South Africa have got the 'chokers tag' not by mere coincidence. Always the pre-tournament favourites, South Africa are yet to reach the final of a World Cup event.
They have lost at semi-final stage of the T20 World Cup twice in 2009 and 2014.
In the ODI World Cup, they lost out in the last four on four occasions in 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2015.
The Netherlands skipper Scot Edwards was at a 'loss of words' after securing their first-ever win against South Africa in any format.
"Lost for words... It's going to take a bit of time... We are sort of used to those conditions," he said.
"It's definitely up there -- another big upset for Netherlands in a World Cup... We were still playing for a spot in the next World Cup," he added.
It was the Netherlands' second win in the Super 12 stage after having defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets earlier.
(With PTI inputs)
