Nagpur: In-form West Indies defeated South Africa by three wickets to enter the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 and left their opponents staring at the exit, here on Friday.
Batting first, South Africa put up a lowly 122 for 8, a total the Caribbeans overhauled with three wickets and two balls to spare. Marlon Samuels (44) and Johnson Charles (32) were the chief contributors for the winners. Earlier, West Indies produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict a marauding South Africa.
It was struggle for South Africa from the word go as they lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to put on a substantial partnership to get to a wining total. Despite having some many big hitting batsmen in their ranks, the Proteas could only hit eight boundaries and two sixes in their entire 20 overs.
Left-handed opener Quinton de Kock top-scored for South Africa with a 46-ball 47, while David Wiese made a valuable 28 lower down the order. Sent in to bat, South Africa were in dire-straits, losing their first five wickets inside the 50-run mark.
Hashim Amla became victim of a terrible mix up in the third delivery of the match, while skipper Faf du Plessis (9) was brilliantly holed out by Suleiman Benn at mid-off off Andre Russell in the last ball pf the second over, soon after the right-hander clobbered Russell over mid-off two deliveries earlier.
Rilee Rossouw was the next to depart for a duck, cutting a Chris Gayle delivery straight to Russell at point as South Africa slumped to 20 for three in three overs. Much was expected of AB de Villiers (10) but he too perished in the eight over after being completely foxed by a slower delivery from Dwayne Bravo.
While going for an outrageous flick through midwicket, De Villiers got a thick inside edge straight onto his stumps.
Scorecard:
South Africa: H. Amla run out 1, Q de Kock b Russell 47, F du Plessis c Benn b Russell 9, R. Rossouw c Russell b Gayle 0, AB de Villiers b Bravo 10, D. Miller b Gayle 1, D. Wiese c Sammy b Bravo 28, C. Morris (not out) 16, A. Phangiso run out 4. Extras (b-4, w-2) 6. Total (for eight wickets in 20 overs) 122.
FoW: 1-1, 2-13, 3-20, 4-46, 5-47, 6-97, 7-112, 8-122.
Bowling: Badree 3-0-22-0, Russell 4-0-28-2, Gayle 3-0-17-2, Brathwaite 2-0-11-0, Benn 4-0-20-0, Bravo 4-0-20-2.
West Indies: J. Charles c du Plessis b Wiese 32, C. Gayle b Rabada 4, A. Fletcher (run out) Rossouw 11, M. Samuels c de Villiers b Morris 44, D. Bravo c Wiese b Phangiso 8, A. Russell c Miller b Imran Tahir 4, D. Sammy b Imran Tahir 0, C. Brathwaite (not out) 10, D Ramdin (not out) 1. Extras (lb-1, w-8) 9. Total (for seven wickets in 19.4 overs) 123.
Fow: 1-5, 2-34, 3-66, 4-87, 5-100, 6-100, 7-113.
Bowling: K. Rabada 3.4-0-38-1, C. Morris 4-0-33-1, Imran Tahir 4-0-13-2, D. Wiese 4-0-19-1, A. Phangiso 4-0-19-1.
