- By Manik Sharma
- Sat, 11 Nov 2023 12:33 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
South Africa's history in ICC knockout stages has often been marked by the narrative of falling short (Chokers) despite dominant performances in the early stages of the tournament. Their defeats in the 2015 and 2019 semifinals against New Zealand and Australia respectively likely linger in their minds as they prepare to face Australia on November 16.
After India, South Africa has been the most dominating team of the Cricket World Cup 2023, losing only to the hosts and a shocking defeat against Netherlands. South African middle-order batter Rassie Van der Dussen shared insights ahead of the semifinal clash against the team they beat comprehensively in the group stages.
Van der Dussen’s unbeaten 76 off 95 led the charge in chasing Afghanistan's 244, propelling South Africa to a five-wicket win. Recognising Australia's experience in winning knockout matches due to their victories in past World Cups, Van der Dussen highlighted the importance of executing plans on the day.
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"I think it (the semifinal) will probably be different in the sense that a lot of their guys have been in those situations before and have a good reference of how it is having won the World Cup and having played in the semi-final two [four] years ago," PTI quoted Van der Dussen as saying after South Africa’s thrilling win against Afghanistan.
Van der Dussen expressed confidence in their strategy, aiming for a compelling match against the strong Australian team. The batter discussed South Africa's pursuit of testing their chasing abilities, having faced challenges while chasing in prior matches.
"The win-loss ratio looks pretty good in our favour when we bat first and I think it's pretty much 50-50 when we chase.Coming into this match we wanted to put ourselves in that situation (before the semifinal against Australia). It was not easy out there as Afghanistan had a quality bowling line-up with four spinners in the team," Van der Dussen added.
He also touched upon the potential absence of captain Temba Bavuma due to a hamstring injury, which might impact the team's lineup.
"It's not ideal, obviously. I suppose I'll have to assess how it is tomorrow. He was obviously struggling a bit but the type of character Temba is, he wanted to stay out there," Van der Dussen said.
"Luckily we've got a few days we'll see what happens but again I'll reiterate like our squad system has been so good, so obviously if he's not there a guy like Reeza," he added.