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All of a sudden and out of nowhere, really, the South African team are firing on all cylinders and are hot out the gate in the T20 World Cup 2022.
They have been excellent with their bowling displays and shone bright with the bat But will they live by their 'choker' tag and stumble at the final hurdles once again, as they always have in ICC showpieces gone by?
Here are some of the talking points based on the Proteas'' performance in the T20 World Cup 2022.
1. Still Undefeated
South Africa remains the only unbeaten team in this year's T20 World Cup after New Zealand floundered late against England on Tuesday (November 1), which also saw Group 1 being thrown wide open as to who qualifies. Group 2, however, seems to be pretty set in stone, barring any glaringly obscene upsets, with Ireland and Zimbabwe securing victories against England and Pakistan respectively.
South Africa are poised to qualify at the top of the table after getting through India in eventual relatively easy fashion. India look set to join them as Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh look to not have enough in the tank at the latter end of the group stages. The Proteas were clinical in their routing against Bangladesh as well as India, with the bowling attack producing absolute masterclass on the bouncy and fast wickets Down Under.
Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, and Lungi Ngidi have lived up to the hype so far in this World Cup, with just after having played three games, the quartet have amassed 17 wickets between themselves, as well as having an average economy thus far of well under 7.00 in the T20 World Cup.
2. Can South Africa continue their rich form in T20 World Cup?
The Proteas are yet to play Pakistan, which are always a dark horse in any given competition they play in, with the likes of Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammed Rizwan in their ranks. Even if they lose the game to Pakistan however, they are only left to play Netherlands, who they should rout in emphatic fashion if history is anything to go by, thus finishing in pole position on the Group 2 table.
But who will they face in their semi-final clash, should that be the case? One would begin to assume that New Zealand will probably finish at the top of their group, and then it really is a toss up between England and Australia.
Australia remain the favorites with the bookies to be the outright winners, but I would tend to disagree, as the Aussies have been shaky thus far in the competition. I would be thinking South Africa would rather face a confident English side, especially after watching them as they threw New Zealand to the curb with such ease.
3. Batting Up and Down?
As the batting continues to fluctuate from game to game, the Proteas will be looking for the top three to fire in the playoffs, especially given that captain Temba Bavuma has failed in every single one of his last nine innings. One wonders what the conversations are among the top brass at the moment, with his glaring absence of form being all over the news. Will he step down for now? Will he battle through?
Bavuma is, after all, keeping out Reeza Hendricks, who was in great form coming into the ongoing T20 World Cup. If Bavuma stubbornly continues to refuse to step aside for the remainder and continues to fail, and that sees the Proteas just fall short, there will be hell to pay from the fans, who have been extremely vocal regarding the situation on social media, in calling for him to step aside.
Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw, on the other hand, have been fantastic recently and will look to continue that form in the knockout phase, as the Proteas bowling unit continues to give the batsmen a relatively easy job.
4. To Choke or not to Choke?
At the end of the day, I am going on a limb and will predict a positive outcome for the Proteas in the T20 World Cup. Their bowling attack is simply too hot at the moment, and I think their batting will fire enough to get them over the line. If they go up against England in the semi-finals, flip a coin in my opinion, but if they play either Australia or New Zealand, the Proteas get through, where I believe they would have enough against India, again.
The toss has proven to be crucial in this tournament thus far, with only under 30% of chasing sides winning the match in the T20 World Cup. One would think it would be important for the Proteas to win the tosses, put over 180 runs on the board, and then ask teams to combat Nortje, Rabada, and Parnell. This is a daunting ask for any team at the moment, and should be the gameplan going ahead into the final week of the World Cup.
