The South African cricket team has a history of playing superbly in the league phases of the multi-nation tournaments and then losing in the knockout phases and this time in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, the history got repeated as they lost the semi-final match to Australia by 3 wickets. South Africa has never been able to play the finals of an ICC event since their inception at the international event.
The match was played yesterday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata and the batting line-up of South Africa which is one of the strongest in the world was able to score only 212 runs and didn’t even survive the complete 50 overs. Though their bowling attack did give some hope to their fans, the team which is considered as one of the best fielding side fumbled big time and dropped a good number of catches. As it is being said that catches win matches, the South African side was bound to take flight for home after such dismal performance in the second semi-final.
The social media users were also very critical of the performance of the Proteas players especially of the skipper Temba Bavuma who failed in making any impact with the bat throughout the tournament.
Here are some reactions:
Captain. Leader. Legend 😊 #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/3ElV7QWP9E
— गाभरु🚩 (@thoda_rude_hu) November 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/Ajaykumar180218/status/1725197003024478569
Official C…. #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/O6VNV5Ax7C
— Aman_Chain 🇮🇳 (@Amanprabhat9) November 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/Istreetgirl/status/1725193627033538959
https://twitter.com/TheCrickFun/status/1725125782476030421
A social media user wrote down the list of knock-out matches which South Africa lost –
South Africa in World Cup Knockouts:
Lost Semi in 1992 WC.
Lost Quarterfinal in 1996 WC.
Lost Semifinal in 1999 WC.
Lost Semifinal in 2007 WC.
Lost Quarterfinal in 2011 WC.
Lost Semifinal in 2015 WC.
Lost Semifinal in 2023 WC.#SAvsAUS— VINEETH𓃵👑 (@sololoveee) November 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/Chandan_radoo/status/1725162274996769246
One user compared the catch dropped by Quinton de Kock with the catch dropped by Hershelle Gibbs in 1999-
1999 : Gibbs dropped both Steve Waugh and World Cup
2023 : De Kock dropped both Pat Cummins and World Cup #SAvsAUS pic.twitter.com/6I8V3IDrt1
— Aviluciferase11 (@aviluciferase11) November 16, 2023
South Africa in Semi-Finals. pic.twitter.com/qxqW9kwkSg
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) November 16, 2023
Me, when people’s incompetence affects my work:
#SAvsAUS pic.twitter.com/eOYFJhU4Xa— Renn (@crabbity_) November 16, 2023
Let’s just hope that next time South Africa will be able to get rid of the chokers tag. Well, this time we are also hopeful that India will win the World Cup. What do you think?
