NEW DELHI: It will be a chance for both teams to create history as a first-ever final in any Cricket World Cup across both white-ball formats will be up for grabs for South Africa and rising Asian side Afghanistan in the first semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 at Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday. Afghanistan's progression to the semi-finals of the World Cup has been a remarkable and wholesome story for a team who have been on the rise in this format for some time, with New Zealand and multi-time world conquerers Australia the highest-ranked teams facing the Afghan storm.
Unbeaten South Africa stands in their way, with the nation hoping it is eighth-time lucky at a men's World Cup semi-final across formats, having lost all seven semifinals it has played so far, as per ICC. With a powerful batting line-up that possesses attacking weapons right down to number seven and a bowling attack that has pace and guile alike, South Africa will have confidence that 2024 will finally be their year. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba is a 15,000-capacity ground that is hosting its fifth and final match of the tournament. All four previous matches came in Group C during the first group stage, where runs proved reasonably hard to come by. West Indies' 149/9 against New Zealand was the highest total at the venue across the four fixtures. South Africa has a perfect record at the tournament, but has been pushed close a number of times across their seven matches. Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal could and maybe should have beaten the Proteas during the group stage. before tournament co-hosts USA gave them a bit of a scare at the start of the Super Eights. But Proteas, replacing the infamy of "choking", produced "clutch" performances to win close and crucial moments in these matches.
Fascinating matches against England and West Indies were also both in the balance for long stretches until South Africa came out on top in each during the last over. Afghanistan's brilliant win over Australia was key to their progression to the semi-finals, but they've been impressive right the way through the tournament. Drawn in the toughest of the initial groups, they progressed at the expense of a consistent-performing, frequent semi-finalists in New Zealand. And, after a loss to India, they upset Australia and then made it past Bangladesh by eight runs in a thriller to make history and seal their first semi-final spot. For South Africa, the big decision will be whether to stick with a second front-line spinner in Tabraiz Shamsi, or bring back an additional pace option in Ottneil Baartman, who has played in five matches at this tournament so far. Afghanistan experimented with adding Hazratullah Zazai as an additional top-order player against India to try and add a bit of solidity in the face of such a high-quality bowling attack. They could be tempted to do the same again, but potentially with the incoming batter in at number on this occasion to leave the Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz partnership settled.
The Squads
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Hazratullah Zazai, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.