Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The South African cricket team is in familiar terrain, having reached the semifinals of yet another World Cup. There’s nothing new about this — they’ve reached this stage in an ICC World Cup (T20 and ODI World Cups combined) on eight previous occasions.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Though they won the World Test Championship (WTC) title last year to break the jinx, the South Africans haven’t been able to crack the code just yet in limited-overs World Cups.
They have entered the final only once, where they lost to India in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Their inability to handle pressure in knockout games in big limited-overs tournaments is forever a talking point and have given them the tag of ‘chokers’.When reminded him of that unwarranted tag after his team’s five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in their last Super 8 engagement, South Africa’s head coach Shukri Conrad not only refused to utter the word ‘chokers’ but also took the opportunity to take at a jibe at the ‘cupcake’ commercial aired by the tournament’s official broadcasters before their game against India last week.“As for the ‘C’ word, I think there is another one for it, cupcakes! I thought we kind of enjoyed that,” he said in a tongue-in-cheek manner, referring to the ad — showing a South African choking on a cupcake and then being handed a bottle of water — that was later taken off air.
However, the way his team has been playing, Conrad will know that this tournament presents them with the ideal opportunity to end their search for a world title in the white-ball format.South Africa have shown that they can not only win in clinical fashion but also scramble through. While the victories over bigger teams like India, New Zealand and West Indies were comprehensive, they also managed to pip Afghanistan in a nerve-wracking Super Over and were able to scrape through against Zimbabwe, the two games in which the South Africans were clearly not at their best.“That’s the mark of really good sides. When things get tough, they’re still able to fashion something and eke out the right result. I think there’s that calmness in the side, especially in the batting unit, that whatever the situation, someone will find a way,” said Conrad.While the batsmen have done their part, it’s the performance of the South African pacers on Indian wickets that have been a revelation. “You can only pretty much cut your coat according to your cloth. Something South African cricket has always had is fast bowlers. We’re talking about guys that can bowl 145-plus. What’s going to be important in India is if you can nail a yorker, some change-ups and maybe on wickets that might be a little bit iffy, some good pace can do the trick. It’s kind of worked out for us,” Conrad said.With the batting and bowling units clicking together, South Africa remain the only unbeaten side in the tournament and that makes them favourites going into the semifinal against New Zealand in Kolkata on Wednesday.
