The first semi-final match was played between South Africa and Afghanistan.Afghanistan lost this match badly and is out of the T20 World Cup. Afghanistan could not set a challenging target for South Africa in the match.
New Delhi. When the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 took place, everyone was hoping that the Afghanistan team, which has been performing brilliantly in the league stage and Super-8 so far, could again cause a big upset. However, this did not happen. The entire Afghan team collapsed for just 56 runs. South Africa won this match very easily and confirmed its place in the final. Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower termed the T20 World Cup semi-final pitch as ‘dangerous’ after Afghanistan lost to South Africa by nine wickets.
Afghanistan’s team could bat only for 11.5 overs in the face of abnormal bounce and seam movement. Flower told ESPNcricinfo, “You cannot blame Afghanistan’s decision to bat after winning the toss. They have been excellent in batting first and defending the target.” He said, “However, it was very difficult to bat first on this pitch. You did not know how many runs would be needed to struggle on this pitch.”
Andy Flower said, “Some balls were bouncing up to the shoulders and neck despite landing close to the batsman. One such ball went over wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for four runs. I am happy that no one was injured.” Flower, who is part of the coaching team of Lucknow Super Giants in IPL, said that after seeing the cracks in the pitch, it was clear that it would give abnormal bounce.
Andy Flower said, “You saw some interesting shots from above the square area and some people were calling it a completely new pitch but if the condition of this pitch was bad then they could have used the pitch that was used earlier.”
Tags: Afghanistan Cricket, ICC T20 world cup, cricket, T20 World Cup
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 27, 2024, 20:50 IST