Tabraiz Shamsi with his four-wicket haul helped South Africa to beat Nepal by a narrow 1-run margin in their final group stage match played in St Vincent. With the victory, South Africa becomes the first team to win all four matches in the group stage.
Though South Africa struggled with bat, their bowlers clinched the victory for the team. Tabraiz Shamsi played a massive role in the 1-run victory against Nepal. He ended his inning with a figure of 4-0-19-4.
With the defeat, Nepal has been eliminated from the 2024 T20 World Cup. With the victory, South Africa will play their Super 8 round with confidence.
Speaking of the match, Nepal won the toss and opted to bowl first. Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock opened the inning on behalf of South Africa. The South African openers were expected to make an outstanding inning but fell cheaply.
Dipendra Singh made the first breakthrough by dismissing de Kock for 10 runs in the fourth over.
Following his dismissal, Reeza Hendricks and Markram made a 46-run partnership for the second wicket. Before converting it into a massive partnership, Kushal Bhurtel dismissed captain Markram for 22 runs and broke the partnership.
Right after the captain’s dismissal, South African batters struggled to build a partnership and started to lose wickets at regular intervals. Reeza Hendricks who opened the inning and batted economically lost his wicket to Dipendra Singh before reaching the fifty-run mark.
With Tristan Stubbs’ 27 off 18 deliveries, South Africa managed to score 115 runs for 7 wickets at the end of 20 overs. Reeza Hendricks’s 43 remains the team’s highest individual score.
On behalf of Nepal, Kushal Bhurtel bagged four wickets while Dipendra Singh dismissed three players. In their 116 runs chase game, Nepal made a decent start by adding 35 runs for the first wicket.
Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh made a steady inning and added 35 runs for the first wicket. Shamsi made the first breakthrough by dismissing Kushal Bhurtel for 13 runs.
In the same over, Shamsi dismissed Nepal captain Rohit Paudel for a duck and loaded pressure over the Nepal batters. But Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah made a fifty-run stand for the next wicket and moved Nepal towards a safer zone.
Markram broke the fifty-run stand by dismissing Anil Sah for 27 runs in the 14th over. Soon in the 18th over, Shamsi struck against and dismissed struggling Dipendra Singh Airee for 6 and pulled the game towards them.
With 16 needed, Shamsi dismissed the well-settled Aasif Sheikh for 42 runs and turned the table in South Africa’s favour. Following Sheikh’s dismissal, Nepal’s hope of winning the game started to fade away. Sompal Kami struck a six in the 19th over and pulled Nepal back into the game.
Gulsan Jha’s boundary off the third delivery of the final over added pressure over the South African bowlers.
With just 2 needed off the final 2 deliveries, Ottneil Baartman defended the score successfully and with a run-out dismissal of the final ball, South Africa pulled a victory by 1 run difference.
#TabraizShamsi is turning the game and HOW! 🔥
Will #SouthAfrica make an incredible comeback to register their 4th win?#SAvNEP | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/cTeyYIIhrt
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 15, 2024
South Africa will play their first Super 8 match of the tournament against the United States on June 19 in Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua.
