Afghanistan vs South Africa – T20 World Cup semifinal: Climate, pitch, toss | ICC Males’s T20 World Cup Information

Who: Afghanistan vs South Africa
What: ICC T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal
When: Wednesday, June 26, 8:30pm native time (00:30 GMT, June 27)
The place: Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
How you can observe: Al Jazeera’s reside protection begins at 19:30 GMT

Fourteen years after making their debut on the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup, Afghanistan discover themselves in dreamland.

A rustic that picked up the sport amid a conflict, practised and perfected it totally on overseas pitches, and grew to adore it madly via calamities, has reached its first semifinal of an ICC males’s World Cup inside a remarkably brief timeframe.

When Rashid Khan leads his staff out on the sphere on the Brian Lara Cricket Academy Floor on Wednesday night time, he’ll be hoping to make Trinidad and Tobago’s most well-known son proud.

In any case, as Rashid revealed in his feedback after beating Bangladesh, Brian Lara was the one cricket pundit to have listed Afghanistan as one in every of his pre-tournament favourites.

“The one man who put us within the semifinals was Brian Lara and we proved him proper,” Rashid stated.

“After we met him at a welcome get together, I informed him we received’t allow you to down.”

‘Unchartered territory’

Afghanistan would have barely recovered from their nerve-jangling win over Bangladesh – and subsequent celebrations – earlier than getting on a airplane to island-hop throughout the Caribbean Sea to achieve the venue of their semifinal.

They should shake off the fatigue and celebratory mode swiftly as South Africa, one of many solely two unbeaten sides within the match, arrived in San Fernando earlier and await them within the semifinal.

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott stated he believes it’s “vital to rejoice moments” however desires his staff to “change on and off on the proper instances”.

“For our guys, this can be a new expertise, a brand new sort of stress,” Trott stated in his pre-semifinal media convention.

Trott stated his facet should “enhance on a number of little areas” for the match in opposition to South Africa.

“We go into the semifinal with no scarring or no historical past. That is uncharted territory for us. We’re simply going to go on the market and provides it our all.

“For us it’s a brand new problem and I feel that makes us harmful within the semifinals as a facet with nothing to lose and clearly plenty of stress on the opposition.”

‘Nice to dream’

Stress and historical past are issues South Africa are all too accustomed to, having misplaced in two T20 World Cup semifinals and 5 50-over World Cup semifinals.

Their coach, Rob Walter, admitted the staff goes via a “combination of feelings – nervousness and pleasure”, however should embrace all of it earlier than heading into the match.

The Proteas’ failure to win a World Cup regardless of their pedigree and historical past of manufacturing main cricketers can be weighing on the staff and the nation however Walter stated the staff has pulled itself out of difficult conditions on this match and can be raring to go in opposition to Afghanistan.

“We’ve encountered all of it and we’ve got been ready to answer the situations fairly properly,” Walter stated on Tuesday.

Simply as in Afghanistan, cricket followers in South Africa will watch the match with bated breath and prayers for that elusive first World Cup closing.

“It’s at all times nice to dream and I feel everybody in South Africa goals of the time when a trophy will get lifted,” the coach stated.

“Little question that can occur. Whether or not it’s going to be this week, that continues to be to be seen.”

Pitch situation and toss

The pitch in San Fernando has produced three low-scoring outcomes, however that has largely been right down to the comparatively weaker opposition [Uganda and Papua New Guinea] setting low targets after being requested to bat first. However, a first-innings complete of 200-plus appears unlikely on the bowler-friendly floor.

All 4 matches have seen the toss-winning captain opting to subject first and given the development within the Caribbean, it will likely be no shock if both Markram or Rashid select to do the identical.

Climate forecast

The match might be affected by rain however the forecast is much less ominous within the night, and since San Fernando is internet hosting a late recreation, there’s a risk of getting an uninterrupted match on Wednesday night time.

Are there any particular situations and guidelines for the semifinal?

Sure, further time and a reserve day have been allotted to the primary semifinal.

An additional 60 minutes can be added to the match time on Wednesday. If the match continues to be not accomplished, it will likely be moved to a reserve day – Thursday, June 27 – and a taking part in time of 190 minutes can be allotted.

What occurs if the semifinal is washed out?

The staff that completed on high of its Tremendous Eights group will advance to the ultimate.

In such a case [abandoned match], South Africa will progress.

Head-to-head

The one two conferences between these sides got here in earlier T20 World Cups – in 2010 and 2016 – and South Africa received comfortably on each events.

Kind information

Afghanistan have had a wobbly finish to their pre-knockouts run after starting the match with three straight wins. Their two losses – in opposition to West Indies in Group B and in opposition to India in Group 1 – have been heavy however Rashid’s staff recovered to win the 2 video games that introduced them to the semifinals.

South Africa are one of many solely two unbeaten groups within the match and have managed to drag themseleves out of nerve-jangling conditions to be counted among the many favourites for the title.

Afghanistan: W W L L W
South Africa: W W W W W

Afghanistan staff information

Except Gulbadin Naib’s dramatic hamstring damage – from which he seemingly recovered swiftly – lingers on, Afghanistan are anticipated to subject the identical XI that confronted Bangladesh of their final match.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz can also be prone to play regardless of taking a blow on his knee within the final match.

Predicted XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (captain), Nangeyalia Kharote, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

South Africa staff information

South Africa might be tempted to carry again pacer Ottneil Baartman rather than left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, given Afghanistan’s relative ease in taking part in spin bowling.

Predicted XI: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi