South Africa were dominating the proceedings until they suffered a batting collapse in the middle overs of the run chase. Boundaries dried up and West Indies put pressure on South Africa middle order. It came down to Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen to finish the game off and they did not disappoint. After the three-wicket win, skipper Aiden Markram was relieved but not satisfied the team’s performance as he feared losing the game and getting knocked out of T20 World Cup 2024.
"A lot of relief to get through to the semifinal. Not going to be brain-washed by that. We would have liked to be more convincing with bat in hand," Markram said at the post match presentation.
"After the rain break, the wicket was playing nicely. We did not get the partnerships to then kill the game. Tried to kill it (the chase) too early, it put us in a tricky position. (The win) is massive for us and fantastic for the change room.
"We bowled really well, assessed conditions and kept them to a sub-par total. We could have build a partnership after the break and then take it from there, we will take that learning and hopefully not do that same mistake again”.
Shamsi’s mystery behind Rabada bowling 2 overs
Markram was happy with his team’s bowling performance. Tabraiz Shamsi was named ‘Player of the match’ for bagging three crucial wickets. The left-arm chinaman helped South Africa restrict West Indies’ score to 135/8. He also explained why Rabada bowled just two overs.
"We picked Shamsi to have a mystery spinner against them and immediately saw it spinning, so we wanted to bowl as much spin as we can. If it wouldn't spun that much then we would have used our pacers, not a lot of times when KG bowls only 2 overs,” said the 29-year-old.
"We have been doing really well, the bowling unit is firing and as a batting unit it is about when to take the game on. We need to be smart on those situations."
Win streak continues
South Africa continued their unbeaten streak in the tournament and finished at the top of Group 2. They will face the second-placed side of Group 1 in the first semifinal on June 26 at Brian Lara Stadium, Trinidad.
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