The Proteas crushed the West Indies by nine-wickets in their T20 World Cup Super Eights clash.
South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The red-soil surface was expected to offer steep bounce early, with spin becoming a factor as it dried out. Historically, 53% of wickets at the venue have fallen to slow deliveries.
The Proteas endured a tough start. Keshav Maharaj surprisingly opened and conceded 17 in the first over, while Marco Jansen gave away 12 in the next as West Indies raced to 29 after two overs. Jansen’s plan to swing the ball away from the right-handers proved costly, allowing the batters to free their arms.
Aiden Markram turned to Kagiso Rabada, who struck with his second ball – a length delivery outside off that found Shai Hope’s edge (16 off 6). Shimron Hetmyer was dropped next ball but fell two deliveries later to Maharaj at midwicket, leaving West Indies 31-2 after 2.5 overs.
Lungi Ngidi recovered from a wayward start to remove Brandon King, before Roston Chase edged onto his stumps off the final ball of the over.
At 43-4 after four overs, the Windies were under pressure. Sherfane Rutherford briefly countered with a six off Corbin Bosch but skied a length delivery soon after to Quinton de Kock.
Rovman Powell then picked out Dewald Brevis off Ngidi, and when Matthew Forde holed out to Ryan Rickelton, West Indies were 83-7 after 10.2 overs.
Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd led a stunning fightback, targeting Jansen (0-50) and Maharaj (0-43). Their 89-run stand off 57 balls set a new T20I record for the eighth wicket. Shepherd struck a maiden half-century (52 off 37), while Holder made 49 off 31.
Excellent death overs from Ngidi and Bosch conceded just 13 runs and included Holder’s run-out. Ngidi (3-30), Rabada (2-22) and Bosch (2-31) impressed, but West Indies still recovered to post a competitive 176-8 in 20 overs.
Led by Proteas captain Aiden Markram, the Proteas managed to bring up 53 in 5 overs. SA became the first team in the tournament to have more than three 50-plus opening partnerships in the tournament so far.
They managed 69 in the power play, Markram contributing 43* off 20 and De Kock 25* off 15.
De Kock managed to score 47 off 24 balls at a strike rate of 195.83 (4 fours, 4 sixes), when Chase got his man, the left-hander guiding the ball to long-on. SA were 95-1 after 8 overs.
Markram brought up his 14th career half-century and third of the tournament in just 27 balls.
The skipper took the Proteas over the line with the help of Ryan Rickelton. Markram finished on 78 off 45 balls (6 fours, 4 sixes) with a Strike Rate of 178.26. Rickelton finished with 45 off 28 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes) at a 160.71 Strike Rate.
Their partnership of 82 off 50 balls took South Africa to a nine-wicket win with 23 balls remaining