Twenty overs left, 100 runs to win, six wickets in hand. Rassie van der Dussen on 38 off 50, and David Miller 3 off 10 balls on the crease. Afghanistan had left 15 more overs of spin.
It would be easy to predict a South Africa win at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, but only if South Africa didn’t have a monkey on their back that would constantly remind them that they are not a good chasing side.
South Africa choked against the Netherlands while chasing and were completely rattled against hosts India. While chasing against Pakistan, they were comfortably winning, then seemed far off from the target but somehow managed to crawl over the finish line.
Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts.
Even against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad, while the start was decent, they lost wickets at key junctures in the match.
Before their tie against Afghanistan, South Africa had scored 135 runs at an average of 19.29, losing seven wickets in 3 innings in the powerplay while chasing. In Ahmedabad, they managed to score 57, with openers Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma remaining unscathed. The first hurdle was cleared.
In the overs 11 – 40, South Africa had 357 runs, at a similar average of 19.83, losing 18 wickets in those 3 games. While their average in the middle phase bettered only Netherlands’ 17.10, their strike rate has been the worst at 77.11.
Against Afghanistan, they lost five wickets, but scored 135 runs, at a strike rate of 75. They averaged 27 runs for each wicket, clearing the second hurdle though with some hiccups.
Against a spin-heavy attack, South Africa also increase their middle overs average from 17.50 in the first three games to 20.69 after four games.
Afghanistan tried to make a comeback to the game with wickets at key intervals, but South Africa managed to build partnerships.
The final hurdle, albeit, was yet to be cleared. While they never saw the light of 41st over against India, South Africa had averaged 9.50 in two games in the overs 41 – 50, scoring 38 runs. Here, they needed 53 runs to win, with five wickets in hand.
If not for a couple of customary drops from the Afghans, the wickets column would have been much heavier for South Africa.
The equation then curtailed down to 33 runs from the last five overs, 23 runs from 24 balls, and 14 runs from 18 balls.
However, Andile Phehlukwayo’s blitz on the first three balls of 48th over—six, four, six—made sure that it did not go any closer and they completed the tricky-looking chase with 15 deliveries to spare.
Van der Dussen appreciated the way Phehlukwayo took over and scored some big shots towards the end.
“He played that brilliant. There was a bit of pressure on him when he came in. Got through that tough, tough period. And I think, what if he finish on 30 or 30 or something. So yeah, brilliant knock from him today,” van der Dussen said at the post-match presentation.
He also revealed the conversation he had when Phehlukwayo came out to bat at number 7.
“Just along the lines of they’re going to bowl their main bowlers now. Obviously, Rashid [Khan], Mujeeb [ur-Rahman], and [Muhammad] Nabi were the toughest bowlers on the day. But the communication to him coming in there was they have to bowl their bowlers now. They’re looking for wickets. Get through that tricky period and we know when the other guys came on, especially the seamer, it should be fine and we should get across the line.”
While Phehlukwayo lifted the pressure off, it was Rassie van der Dussen’s 95-ball 76 that absorbed all the pressure in the middle overs, stitching partnerships with Aiden Markram and David Miller. The right-hander was also adjudged player of the match for his innings.
Rassie said that while it seemed to be a tricky run-chase, it was a convincing and controlled chase.
“I think it was largely controlled. There were one or two nervy moments, but it’s always in the chases like that. You’ve just got to communicate well to the guys coming in. So, I think one thing we did well is we never lost wickets in clusters. Everyone that came in put up a bit of a partnership and ended it closer. By doing that, they were never really in the game. Even though it might have looked when we needed about 50 of 50, with five wickets in hand, you’re going to get there nine times out of ten.”
Rassie also explained that the team had already planned to chase against a formidable bowling attack to get the monkey off their back.
“Coming into this match we wanted to put ourselves in that situation so if we won the toss we would have bowled anyway, because we wanted to put ourselves in that situation, knowing that they’ve got a really strong spin attack especially.
So South Africa scored 55 runs in the final 7.3 overs and didn’t lose any wickets. This was by far their best performance in a run chase and bettered a combined 38 runs from 61 balls in the last 10 overs in the previous two games.
While the chase did not seem as clinical as it would have been expected, especially chasing a below-par target, Gerald Coetzee said that it was a good chase and there was no panic in the dressing room.
“I think their spinners bowled really well. They have four unbelievable bowlers and the wicket was turning. And we had a top order batter and a middle order batter to finish the game, so it was a convincing win. The required rate also did not go more than six, and if you ask any batter to chase at six per over, they will take it. So I think it was convincing,” Coetzee said at the Mixed Zone interaction.
Comments
0 comment