South Africa Qualify for Super 8: South Africa becomes the first team to reach T20 World Cup Super 8

New Delhi. South Africa secured a place in the Super 8 of the T20 World Cup by winning three consecutive matches. The team captained by Aiden McCram defeated New Zealand by seven wickets and made it to the next round. Makram single-handedly led the team to victory. He scored unbeaten 86 runs on 44 balls which included 8 fours and 4 sixes. With this victory, South Africa has six points from 3 matches and strengthened its position at the top of the points table of Group D. South Africa’s net run rate is 1.477. In this group, New Zealand is at second position with 4 points and UAE is at third position with two points. South Africa defeated New Zealand for the fifth consecutive time in the T20 World Cup. The South African team has virtually reached the last 8, but it has not been officially announced yet.

After a brilliant performance by the bowlers led by Marco Yanson (40/4), with the aggressive batting of captain Aiden Markram, South Africa almost confirmed its place in the Super Eight by defeating New Zealand by seven wickets with 17 balls to spare in the Group D match. After restricting New Zealand to 175 runs for seven wickets, South Africa achieved the target by losing three wickets in just 17.1 overs and registered its third consecutive win. Markram gave his best performance in T20 International by scoring unbeaten 86 runs in 44 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes. He completely dominated the match by making a partnership of 62 runs in 28 balls with Quinton de Kock (20 in 14 balls) and 40 runs in 18 balls with Ryan Rickleton, completing a century of runs for the team within the first eight overs.

New Zealand recovered from a bad start and reached a challenging score on the basis of a partnership of 74 runs in 44 balls for the fifth wicket between Mark Chapman (48) and Daryl Mitchell (32). Apart from ‘Player of the Match’ Johnson for South Africa, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj and Corbin Bosch were also among the wicket-taking bowlers. All three got one success each.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram played the captaincy innings.

Chapman-Mitchell made a partnership of 74 runs
Earlier, New Zealand scored 175 runs for 7 wickets against South Africa on the basis of a 74-run partnership between Mark Chapman (48) and Daryl Mitchell (32). South Africa decided to bowl first in this Group D match on a fast and bouncy pitch. Despite being a match outside India, the match created excitement as per expectations in the presence of about 30,000 spectators. Both the teams were invincible before this match. Tim Seifert (13 runs off nine balls) welcomed Marco Jansson with a six, while Finn Allen took an aggressive stance against Lungi Ngidi and hit a six and a four in the same over.

New Zealand scored 64 runs for 4 wickets in 7 overs.
The team’s score had just reached 33 runs when Janson got Seifert caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock on an extra bounce ball. After this, he got Rachin Ravindra (13) caught by David Miller and soon the dangerous Allen (31 runs on 17 balls) was caught out by captain Aiden Markram. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled out Glenn Phillips (1), who was in excellent form, and put New Zealand in trouble by taking four wickets for 64 runs in seven overs.

Kagiso Rabada got help from the pitch
Ngidi (34/1) and Kagiso Rabada got help from the pitch, but they could not take full advantage of it. Chapman and Mitchell then took over the innings with composure and controlled aggression. Chapman scored 48 runs in 26 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. Mitchell (32 runs on 24 balls) supported him well. He reduced the pressure by hitting a long six off Markram’s ball. Chapman also scored 15 runs from the over by hitting a six off Markram. When New Zealand was moving towards a big score in the last overs, Yanson made a comeback for the team by denying Chapman a half-century. Ryan Rickelton took his catch. Mitchell also soon became Ngidi’s victim. Captain Mitchell Santner (four) was dismissed cheaply by Corbin Bosh.

Yanson was South Africa’s best bowler with four wickets.
Yanson was the best bowler of the team with four wickets for 40 runs. Bosh took one wicket for 34 runs in four overs. Maharaj took one wicket for 24 runs. Thanks to James Neesham’s unbeaten 23 runs in the last overs, New Zealand made a challenging score of 175 runs for seven wickets.