South Africa has been going against their reputation of royal chokers in T20 World Cup 2024. Even in Super Eights, they found themselves in the pickle against every team. Against host West Indies too, they found themselves behind the eight ball in the chase after a short rain interruption. Unless for Heinrich Klaasen’s big 20-run over against spinner Gudakesh Motie, SA might have found it difficult.
Going into the details, South Africa won the toss and elected to field first. West Indies did not get an ideal start with previous match star Shai Hope getting out for a golden duck. Nicholas Pooran also fell for just 1 to Markram. Roston Chase joined Kyle Mayers but both did not find any rhythm. Chase scored 52 runs from 42 balls while Mayers scored 35 runs from 34 balls.
With more than 50 dot balls, West Indies found themselves 30-40 runs short of ideal score. They made only 135/8 in 20 overs. Tabraiz Shamsi(3/27) determined the fall of West Indies wickets in crucial overs. In the chase, South Africa again saw Reeza Hendricks(0) fail and even Quinton de Kock(12) misfired.
Aiden Markram(18), Tristan Stubbs(29) struggled to score freely but Heinrich Klaasen made aggressive 22 runs from 10 balls. Marco Jansen scored the winning six with 21 runs from 14 balls. South Africa had gitters after rain break when DLS score has been reduced to 124 after rain break. But they reached their in the final over with 3 wickets remaining.
South Africa remained unbeaten with 7 wins out of 7 games they played till date. They have been able to manage to find out a way to win their matches. Well, they have been “revered” as chokers due to their bad luck in such tight situations but this tournament looks like a change in right direction.