South Africa’s Cricket Nightmares Resurface After T20 World Cup Heartbreak

Three decades worth of nightmares for South Africa seemed set to be finally ending in the late stages of a gripping T20 World Cup final when Heinrich Klaasen thumped India’s attack around Kensington Oval in Barbados.

While India were trying to end a decade-long drought, South Africa’s misery has been downright macabre. Something so painful that it has been interpreted as more than a curse. Another dreaded c-word has been bandied around every South African team since their infamous ‘choke’ against Australia in the 1999 World Cup semi-final.

It is fortunate for South Africa that the benign cricket media – despite the overt homerism of some Indian journalists – does not really have hot take artists like Skip Bayless, who likes nothing more than uttering that c-word, or bombastic shows like First Take.

But South Africa has not been immune from being seen as something of a laughing stock and source of mockery over their failures under the bright lights.

It probably heightened in 2003 when then captain Shaun Pollock made a hash of a mathematical equation during a rain interrupted match, resulting in South Africa being humiliatingly knocked out early of a home World Cup.

Then South Africa – often loaded with talent and entering tournaments among the favorites – were repeatedly bundled out of World Cups, usually at the semis, and it appeared the baggage from all those collective failures had become too much to stomach.

It got to the point where South Africa became a symbol of abject sadness, cricket’s Greek tragedy. They could not be taken seriously – the noose around their necks at World Cups was just too hard to overlook.

They were mostly written off at this T20 World Cup, but South Africa put it together and got through to the final relatively unnoticed.

The focus had been on basically everyone else during a terrific and more inclusive World Cup – the early demise of Pakistan, U.S. stealing the show, Australia and England’s various struggles, and Afghanistan’s historic run.

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Despite being loaded with heavy hitters and a formidable pace attack, a traditionally balanced team that shunned the mishmash makeup that has become the norm for T20 line-ups stacked with all-rounders, South Africa were expected to fail and everyone was waiting for them to slip on a banana peel.

South Africa appeared to have fortune go their way when they avoided playing old tormenter Australia, who were shockingly knocked out by an inspired Afghanistan playing out a cricket fairytale.

But Afghanistan represented a major danger for South Africa, who suddenly had to cope with the favouritism tag. It loomed as the type of defeat that would add another chapter in South African cricket infamy.

But this was different, with South Africa submitting a ruthless performance they’ve long been waiting for. South Africa were unnerved, something they had never before exuded in previous semi-finals, to dismantle Afghanistan and power into the final against India.

It was remarkably their first ever final in any World Cup format, and they benefited from mighty India receiving all the attention as the cricket superpower contended with the pressure of putting their title drought to bed.

South Africa had the edge for much of the final and played almost the perfect game up to the point where the explosive Klaasen appeared to be smashing their hex into tiny bits with his heavy bat.

South Africa needed 30 runs off 30 balls, something of a breeze in the frenetic T20 format. But, of course, with so much at stake it still seemed like a mountain to climb.

India were just a wicket away from clawing back into the contest and they did that when Hardik Pandya, a supremely talented but sometimes maligned all-rounder, dismissed Klaasen with an innocuous wide delivery.

On other days, Klaasen would have flayed it to the boundary, but here he tamely edged behind and South Africa’s lack of lower-order batting was exposed.

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Jasprit Bumrah, the GOAT
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T20 bowler, then took over and the game was essentially over when David Miller was dismissed after falling to a spectacular catch along the background from Suryakumar Yadav, which has since been shrouded in controversy.

It all happened pretty quickly from there. With one ball left, India talisman Virat Kohli was fist pumping before moments later the rest of his teammates celebrated wildly, so too their boss Jay Shah who rules cricket with an iron fist and was front and center of the euphoria.

Meanwhile, South Africa players were in tears as they sat glumly on the turf as their family members tried to console them.

This wasn’t a choke even though the cruel-hearted will be unmerciful. But, which ever way you spin it, this was such a missed opportunity and South Africa’s hoodoo continues.

Just 30 minutes earlier, their players were getting ready to be feted as national heroes, forever remembered as the team who tamed South Africa’s never-ending nightmare.

Instead they will be haunted much like their predecessors.