T20 World Cup 2026: South Africa Seal Semifinal Spot to keep India's hopes alive
South Africa advanced to the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinals by defeating the West Indies by 9 wickets at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. They became the second semi-finalists in the ongoing World Cup, after England. With Aiden Markram & co.'s victory, the Indian team's hopes of reaching the semi-finals are also alive. Indian fans were hoping for South Africa's victory in this match, and the African team has outclassed the West Indies in all three departments.
South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl first. The West Indies openers gave a good start by attacking in the first two hours, but after this, the Proteas bowlers made a brilliant comeback in the match. South Africa started taking wickets of the West Indies at regular intervals from the beginning and dismissed 7 batsmen of WI for just 83 runs. From there, veteran all-rounder Jason Holder (49) and Romario Shepherd (52) added 89 runs for the 8th wicket to take the team to a challenging total of 176 runs. For South Africa, Lungi Ngidi took the most, 3 wickets, while Kagiso Rabada and Corbin Bosch grabbed 2-2 wickets in their tally.
While chasing 177, skipper Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock (47) added 95 runs for the first wicket in just 8 overs. Roston Chase gave the first breakthrough to the West Indies. Despite the fall of De Kock's wicket, Markram remained at the crease and completed his half-century. He, along with Ryan Rickelton, shared a match-winning 82-run partnership in just 49 balls for the second wicket and took the team over the finishing line in just 16.1 overs. Aiden Markram played an unbeaten 82 runs, which included 7 fours and 4 sixes. Meanwhile, Ryan Rickelton made an unbeaten 45 runs, including 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Aiden Markram received the player of the match. South Africa now faced Zimbabwe on February 28 in their last Super 8 match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, before their semi-finals. On the other side, Shai Hope & co. will face hosts India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on the same day in a must-win game.
