South Africa have dismantled Afghanistan for just 56 runs in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024. The match is being played at the Brian Lara cricket stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad and not many would've thought that the Asian team will get folded so early after opting to bat first. It was a brave decision to bat from Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan but South Africa's pacers ran riot to skittle them to the lowest total in T20 World Cup semi-finals. Sri Lanka's 128/6 was the earlier lowest total in the semifinals back in 2010 against England.
It all started with Marco Jansen dismissing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over of the innings and Afghanistan never recovered from the blow. Jansen delivered perfect lengths to send back two more batters while Kagiso Rabada also struck twice in his first over to leave the opposition reeling at 23/5 in five overs.
After the early burst, there was no let off with Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi sharing five wickets between them. Afghanistan never arrived on the scene as their batters just came and left the field playing poor shots. But South Africa bowled superbly as well not leaving any stone unturned in making sure that they will be playing their first final ever in their World Cup history (ODI and T20I).
For Afghanistan, only one batter Azmatullah Omarzai made it to the double-figures and even he scored only 10 runs while the rest of the batters really couldn't do anything. Moreover, Afghanistan didn't hit a single six in their innings as they were skittled to their lowest total in T20Is. It is also the lowest total against South Africa by any team in the shortest format of the game.
