South Africa on Saturday survived a scare against to confirm their spot in the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. Aiden Markram’s side prevailed over minnows Nepal in a close match of group D, ultimately winning the tie by a solitary run.
Nepal restrict South Africa to modest total
Nepal won the toss and elected to bowl first against a South Africa side that had won two games out of the first two. South Africa had a decent start to the match, with opener Reeza Hendricks scoring 43 off 49 balls on a pitch that made stroke play difficult. None of the other batters except for Hendricks could score big for the Proteas.
Nepal pacer Dipendra Singh Airee took three wickets for his team while Kushal Bhurtel scalped 4 to ensure South Africa were restricted to 115 runs.
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Nepal fall agonisingly short
Chasing the modest total, Nepal looked on course to causing yet another major upset. Aasif Sheikh’s innings of 42 coupled with other cameos of 10-15 runs made it seem Nepal would win the tie comfortably. However, the Proteas kept taking wickets to towards the end. Needing two to win in the last ball, Sompal Kami missed the ball and ran for the single.
However, South African wicketkeeper Quinto De Kock was quick enough to produce a run-out. The win confirmed South Africa’s spot in the Super Eight. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will only need a win in their last match to qualify as the second team.