T20 World Cup: Super 8
North Sound: South Africa beat co-hosts USA by 18 runs in the opening Super Eight stage match of T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.
After scoring 194, the Proteas restricted the opponent at 176/6 in allotted overs. USA started in positive note as the opening duo put on 33 runs in 3.3 overs. Then Kagiso Rabada struck in back-to-back overs. Opener Andries Gous and Harmeet Singh recovered the innings from 76 for 5 in 11 overs. They fought hard to keep hopes alive for the minnors. USA needed 28 runs from last two overs. But Rabada broke the partnership by claiming Harmeet for 38 runs (22 balls) in the first ball of the 19th over. The duo added 91 runs from 43 balls for the sixth wicket. Rabada gave away only 2 runs in that over to finish his spell with 3 wickets for 18. Anrich Nortje gave away 7 runs in the final over to ensure the Proteas victory. Opener Gous remained unbeaten at 80 from 47 balls with 5 sixes.
Earlier, opener Quinton de Kock hammered a 40-ball 74 and skipper Aiden Markram scored 46 off 32 balls to help South Africa reach a mighty total of 194/4.
The USA, who were the team of the preliminary round after storming into the Super 8 stage on debut by stunning Pakistan, put the mighty proteas in to bat first on winning the toss and the South Africans came up with a fine innings to post a challenging total. The co-hosts had early success when Saurabh Netravalkar had Reeza Hendricks hitting it straight into the hands of Corey Anderson at mid-off.
So, it was left to De Kock to push on with the assistance of Aiden Markram, hitting a brilliant 74 off 40 balls -- including seven fours and five sixes. He reached his half-century off 27 balls. He was eventually removed by a smartly delivered full toss from Harmeet Singh, caught by Shayan Jahangir. he and Markram raised 110 runs for the second wicket to take South Africa past the 110-run mark.
And Harmeet struck again with the next ball, catching new batter David Miller off his own bowling, and making the scoreline 126/3 with a little more than seven overs remaining.
Markram was next to fall after a solid 46 off 32 balls, caught by a flying Ali Khan off Netravalkar. Then Tristan Stubbs and Heinrich Klaasen formed an effective partnership for the last five overs, putting on a valuable 53 between them.
Netravalkar claimed 2-21 while Harmeet 2-24 to prevent the South Africans from going berserk in the middle.
Brief scores: South Africa 194/4 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 74, Aiden Markram 46, Heinrich Klaasen 36 not out; Saurabh Netravalkar 2-21, Harmeet Singh 2-24) beat USA 176/6 in 20 overs (Andries Gous 80no, Harmeet Singh 38, Steven Taylor 24, Rabada 3/18). Agencies
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