South Africa banish semifinal jinx with 9-wicket win over Afghanistan, enter maiden T20 WC final
Tarouba (Trinidad) (PTI): South Africa exorcised their agonising semifinal jinx through an exceptional spell of pace bowling as they walloped an emotionally drained Afghanistan by nine wickets to enter their first-ever T20 World Cup final here.
They will face the winners of the second semifinal between India and England in the title clash, but the Afghans will go home with their heads held high after a stirring run in the tournament.
Marco Jansen (3/16) Kagiso Rabada (2/14) and Anrich Nortje (2/7) ripped the soul out of the Afghanistan top-order while bundling them out for a paltry 56 in just 11.5 overs after being invited to bowl.
Despite the early departure of Quinton de Kock, bowled through the gate by impressive pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, the Proteas had little trouble in reaching 60 for one in 8.5 overs.
Reeza Hendricks (29 not out), who put up his highest score in this event, and skipper Aiden Markram (23 not out) navigated them safely to the shores of victory as they have finally freed themselves from the painful tag of chokers in global events.
Afghanistan have given their everything to reach the World Cup semifinal, and in the crucial clash they were left with no energy, and produced a nothing effort that belied their doughtiness until now.
It affected their batting as they looked unusually edgy against the South African pacers, who summoned a spell from hell.
They reduced the Afghans to 28 for five inside the Powerplay and there was no coming back from that depth as they crashed to their lowest total in a T20 International.
Their 56 was also the lowest total in a T20 World Cup semifinal clash.
Once reduced to 28 for six, Afghanistan could not even offer a smidgeon of fight as their dream of reaching a maiden World Cup final was squashed even before it began.
While the South Africa pacers were on the money, the Afghan batters too should cope some blame for being edgy on a pitch that hid no evils apart from those deliveries that kicked up from a length.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the first to perish, chasing Jansen’s delivery outside the off-stump to give Reeza Hendricks an easy catch at slip.
The dismissal of in-form Gurbaz seemed to inject doses of panic in the Afghanistan line-up, and Gulbadin Naib was consumed by a lovely in-coming delivery by Jansen.
But the next two dismissals were a combination of bowler's brilliance and batters’ irrationality.
Ibrahim Zadran, on whom a lot was riding for the Afghans, did not move his feet at all against a Rabada delivery that came back a bit. There was enough room for the ball to sneak past the bat and pad to rattle Zadran's leg-stump.
Three balls later in the fourth over, Mohammad Nabi's dismissal was along similar lines and the only difference was that Rabada disturbed the off-stump this time.
Nortje joined the party with the scalp of Azmatullah Omarzai, whose slash found Tristan Stubbs in the deep.
Gurbaz, Zadran and Omarzai have been the leading run-makers for Afghanistan in this ICC showpiece, but on the crucial day all they could manage was a paltry 12 runs between them.
Skipper Rashid Khan, who could have made some valuable runs, chose to expose all his stumps to Nortje to see the one close to his legs getting cartwheeled across the field.
Leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) applied the coupe de grace on Afghanistan batting line with two wickets in one over, jettisoning Karim Jannat and Noor Ahmad.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Revanth Reddy slams BJP over 'Congress-mukt Bharat' sloganHyderabad, Feb 21 (PTI) Telangana Chief Mi
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday asserted that money is not a priority for Gandhi-Nehru family, saying if the Congress workers pooled funds, they could raise atleast Rs 10,000 crores for the family.
Addressing a training programme organised at Vikarabad near here by AICC for District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he accused the BJP of "insulting" Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by levelling allegations of corruption against them.
He also said the family had sacrificed three generations for the nation.
"Along with Congress, if there is any party which has a history of 100 years in the country, it is the CPI. All others came into existence as political parties on the basis of freedom we secured, the Constitution we gave and after we (Congress) strengthened the country. Now, they are becoming dangerous parties by giving the slogan of 'Congress-mukt Bharat."
Describing the Congress as the "soul of India", he said parties like BJP are trying to weaken its legacy.
Questioning the corruption charges against the Gandhi-Nehru family, the CM asked, "Is money a priority for the Gandhi family which sacrificed three generations for the sake of the country?"
According to him, Congress workers in Telangana alone could mobilise Rs 1,000 crores if they chose to do so.
He alleged a conspiracy to silence the Gandhi-Nehru family, claiming that it repesents the Dalits, STs and minorities.
Reddy urged Congress leaders and workers to counter such attempts.
Referring to the freedom movement, he said while the Britishers did not take extreme action against Mahatma Gandhi, those with the ideology that BJP inherited took the life of Father of the Nation soon after Independence.
Highlighting the contributions of Nehru family to the country, he said, "Motilal Nehru donated assets worth thousands of crores to the country and Jawaharlal Nehru spent 10 years in jail" during freedom struggle, while former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives.
Though Rahul Gandhi inherited such a great legacy, he undertook a 'padayatra' across the nation, Reddy said.
He also said party workers who remained loyal when the Congress was in the opposition have been rewarded with nominated posts and MLA tickets after it came to power.
"You may feel that nobody is observing you. You may feel you will get (ticket to contest) in some quota if you take the support of a leader just before elections. But, there are no quotas now. Only merit quota is there in Congress," he said.
Reddy also urged the DCC presidents to treat their positions with utmost respect, avoid lobbying for various things and focus on people's welfare.
