Markram storms past West Indies as South Africa heads to semi-finals

Sports Desk
South Africa defeated West Indies by a huge margin of nine wickets thanks to a devastating batting performance from captain Aiden Markram. With this victory, the Proteas have almost secured a place in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.

South Africa captain Markram won the toss in Ahmedabad on Thursday and elected to field first. Despite a batting disaster at the start, the Caribbeans finally managed to muster enough capital to fight for 176 runs. In reply, Markram’s unbeaten 82-run innings helped South Africa reach the victory with 23 balls to spare.
India also benefited from the Proteas’ victory. Now, Suryakumar Yadav has the semi-final equation in his own hands.

Brief scores:
• West Indies: 176/8 in 20 overs (Shepherd 52*, Holder 49; Ngidi 3/30, Rabada 2/2)
• South Africa: 177/1 in 16.1 overs (Markram 82*, de Kock 47, Rickelton 45*)
• Result: South Africa won by 9 wickets.

Record partnership and batting mayhem
West Indies were in dire straits after batting first and losing 4 wickets for 43 runs. At one stage, the score stood at 83 for 7. Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder pulled the team back from there. They put on a record 89-run partnership for the eighth wicket, a record in T20 history. Shepherd remained unbeaten on 52 off 37 balls and Holder scored 49 runs before being run out off the last ball.

In reply, South Africa’s opening partnership of Quinton de Kock and Markram added 95 runs in just 9.1 overs. De Kock was dismissed for 47 off 24 balls, but Markram was unstoppable. The captain, who reached his half-century off just 27 balls, ended up on 82 not out with the help of 4 sixes and 7 fours. At the other end, Ryan Rickleton
remained unbeaten on 45 to secure victory.

Equation puzzle

South Africa is the only unbeaten team in the ongoing tournament so far. They also defeated the mighty India by 76 runs in the Super Eight stage.
If India wins against Zimbabwe in Chennai in the next match of the day, South Africa’s semi-final will be assured. However, if India loses and they lose to the West Indies in the match next Sunday, the semi-final equation could become complicated.
Lungi Ngidi was outstanding with the ball for South Africa. He took 3 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs. Kagiso Rabada took 2 wickets for just 2 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Bosh (2/31) kept the opposition under pressure with effective bowling like Corbin Bosh and Mustafizur Rahman.