The first semi-final will be played between Afghanistan and South Africa at the Brian Lara Stadium.
Match preview:
Afghanistan played their first match in 2004 and exactly 20 years later they did the unthinkable, they have qualified for the semi-finals of an ICC event allowing people around the globe to believe in their dreams and hard work.
Thus far Afghanistan have enjoyed a dream run in this T20 World Cup so far, beating the likes of New Zealand and Australia, an achievement that will be celebrated for so long.
Afghanistan always had raw talent and now they have polished those talents and skills, creating a match-winner squad.
Rashid Khan has been a world-class spinner, Noor Ahmed has been a force to reckon with, the opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has the ability to take down any bowling lineup, and Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi are bowling apt line and length coupled by variations.
And Mohammad Nabi, the veteran player, who will be playing for the very first time in a World Cup semi-final. In his career, he has beaten so many teams and now he will look forward to beating South Africa in the upcoming semi-final.
No attack has taken more wickets than Afghanistan’s 57 in this World Cup and their economy rate of 6.35 is only second to South Africa’s 6.10 among the Super-Eight teams.
But one thing that can trouble Afghanistan is their middle order. They did not have a fancy batting depth and their middle order have not shown impressive performances. So, Afghanistan rely on their openers to provide the team with a good start and one of the openers to stick to the end.
South Africa can exploit this weakness of Afghanistan, putting them to chase if they win the toss. Marco Jansen’s powerplay bowling will be the key as he will look forward to removing the Afghanistan openers and put the middle order in pressure.
Besides, Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner, will be keen to disturb the right-hander-heavy Afghanistan batting lineup. Tabrazi Shamsi can also pose a threat to the Afghanistan batters as he is familiar with the conditions and is such a clever bowler.
The batting unit has been a problem for South Africa as the opener Reeza Hendricks failed to put up a great show with the bat. Aiden Markram has been awful too with the bat. So, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller will have to step-up against Afghanistan’s potent bowling attack. Klaasen’s strike rate and average against spin is impressive as he has struck at 182.12 since the start of 2023.
Tristan Stubbs will also have to play a great innings as he showed defiance against West Indies’ bowlers and played a crucial knock under the pump.
South Africa is yet to lift an ICC Trophy and this time they have a great chance to win a tournament. They just need two victories to become the first team ever to win an ICC title unbeaten.
Pitch and weather report:
The conditions in Tarouba are famous for a low bounce and batters will struggle to get going on this venue. The venue will benefit spinners though. So, a team winning the toss is supposed to field first.
Head-to-head record:
Both of the sides have played two T20 so far and both of the games have been won by South Africa.
Predictions:
It is a tough game to predict. But South Africa are favourites to win this contest.
Where to watch:
Pakistan – PTV Sports, Ten Sports, Myco (Live streaming), Tamasha app (Live streaming), Tapmad (live streaming)
India – Star Sports
England – SkySport Network
USA and Canada (Willow TV)
Caribbean – ESPN Caribbean
New Zealand & Australia – Sky Sports NZ, Prime Video
UK & Northern Ireland – Sky Sports
Sri Lanka – Maharaja TV
Other regions – SuperSport, Sirasa, CricLife, STARZPLAY
