Aiden Markram continued his dazzling form with an unbeaten 82 from only 46 balls to lead South Africa to a comprehensive victory by nine-wickets with a whopping 3.5 overs to spare in their T20 World Cup Super Eight match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada both claimed two wicket in their opening overs to help restrict the West Indies to a par score of 176-8 after choosing to bowl first while Quinton de Kock’s quickfire 47 from 24 balls and Ryan Rickelton’s 45* from 28 balls helped Markram make light work of the run-chase.
A sensational world record eighth wicket partnership of 89 from just 59 balls between Romario Shepherd (52*) and Jason Holder (49) rescued the West Indies from the depths of 83-7 just after the halfway point but it was to no avail.
De Kock pulled and slog-swept four legside sixes and four further boundaries while Rickelton’s sumptuous innings included four fours and two sixes. But Markram caught the eye most emphatically beginning with an extraordinary punch over long on for six from his tiptoes against Shepherd in the second over.
The South African captain struck seven typically classic fours before the game was turned emphatically in his team’s favour with two straight driven sixes against offspinner Roston Chase and another from Rickelton over midwicket in the 14th over which yielded 19 runs and all-but ended the contest.
Earlier the West Indies raced to 29-0 after just two overs but Rabada and Ngidi transformed the innings as the men from the Caribbean crashed to 43-4 after four with captain Shai Hope (16) and fellow opener Brandon King (21) both falling to Rabada (4-0-22-2) in the third over.
Hope drove and pulled Keshav Maharaj for two sixes and a four in the first over of the innings before edging Rabada to ‘keeper de Kock and Shimron Hetmyer, having been dropped by Corbin Bosch two balls earlier, pulled Rabada to Maharaj at midwicket.
Ngidi (4-0-30-3) found King’s outside edge before Chase, attempting to force off the back foot, played on to his stumps via an inside edge. A short ball from Corbin Bosch was pulled for six by Sherfane Rutherford but fell to the ‘double bluff’ when Bosch delivered an identical delivery next ball which he top-edged to de Kock playing an identical shot.
Rovman Powell smashed the second ball of the ninth over on the up to extra cover where Dewald Brevis held on to a palm-stinger to give Ngidi his third and Matthew Forde’s attempt to fight fire with fire ended with a flick-sweep against Bosch (4-0-31-2) straight to Rickelton at square leg.
The innings was in disarray at 83-7 but Holder (4x4, 3x6 from 31 balls) and Shepherd (3x4, 4x6 from 37 balls) eschewed thoughts of consolidation and continued to counter-attack in dazzling style during their record partnership of 89 from just 59 deliveries.
Shepherd drove Ngidi for six over long off before pulling Maharaj, Bosch and Rabada for further maximums during a remarkable innings which gave the West Indies hope.
Holder, too, smashed Marco Jansen (4-0-50-0) for two straight sixes and a pulled four in the 18th over which cost 23 runs and although Ngidi fought back with an over of ingenious slower balls which cost just five runs in the 19th Shepherd reached his half century with an inside edge against Bosch in 20th after Holder was run out in a mix-up which saw both batsmen at the same end.
Both teams were undefeated in the tournament before this contest which leaves South Africa as the only team yet to lose. The Proteas place in the semifinals is almost certainly guaranteed on net run-rate even if they lose their final match against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wkt), Aiden Markram (captain), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
WEST INDIES: Brandon King, Shai Hope (captain/wkt), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph