South Africa Dominates West Indies with Nine-Wicket Victory in T20 World Cup Super 8 Clash

Ahmedabad. South Africa registered its second consecutive victory in the T20 World Cup Super 8 stage. The team defeated the West Indies by nine wickets in the first match on Thursday.

In the match held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. Batting first, the West Indies lost 8 wickets in 20 overs, scoring 176 runs.

South Africa chased down the target of 177 runs in just 16.1 overs, losing only one wicket. Captain Aiden Markram contributed an unbeaten 82 runs, and Rassie van der Dussen added 45 runs.

For the West Indies, Romario Shepherd remained unbeaten on 52 runs, while Jason Holder was dismissed for 49 runs. Lungi Ngidi took 3 wickets for South Africa, while Kagiso Rabada and Corbin Bosch claimed 2 wickets each.

Key Interesting Statistics from the Match:

• 177 - This is the target successfully chased by South Africa against the West Indies in Ahmedabad, which is their highest successful chase losing only one wicket in men's T20 Internationals. Previously, their highest successful chase losing only one wicket was 174, achieved against the West Indies last month in Paarl. This is the largest target successfully chased by any team losing only one wicket in the Men's T20 World Cup.
• 264 - Runs scored by Aiden Markram so far in this tournament. This is the highest score by any South African player in a single edition of the Men's T20 World Cup. Markram is also the first South African batter to hit three half-centuries in a single edition of this tournament.
• 89 - The partnership between Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd for the eighth wicket. This is the highest-ever partnership for the eighth wicket in T20 Internationals. It surpassed the record of 80 runs set by Scotland's Peter Mommsen and Safyaan Sharif against the Netherlands in 2015. This 89-run partnership is also the second-highest for the eighth wicket or lower in T20 Internationals. The first place is held by the unbeaten 132-run ninth-wicket partnership between Saber Zahkil and Saklain Ali of Belgium against Austria in 2021.
• 105 - Runs added by the West Indies from a position of 71 runs for 6 wickets. With this, the West Indies became the first team in the Men's T20 World Cup to score over 100 runs after the fall of the sixth wicket. The previous record was 93 runs scored by India against Australia in 2010. The 89-run partnership between Holder and Shepherd is also the highest partnership for the seventh wicket or lower in a World Cup.
• 52* - Shepherd's score batting at number 9 against South Africa. He is the first batter to score a half-century batting below the top seven in the Men's T20 World Cup. Previously, the highest score by a batter batting at number 8 or lower was Rashid Khan's unbeaten 48 against Australia in 2022, and the highest score at number 9 or lower was Shafiqullah Shafiq's unbeaten 35 against England in 2016.
• 1 - There is only one higher individual score than Shepherd's 52* when batting at number 9 or lower in T20 Internationals. Hamid Safi of Austria scored an unbeaten 58 off 15 balls while batting at number 9 against Slovenia. Shepherd is one of four batters to score a half-century batting at number 9 or lower in T20 Internationals.
• 53 - Dot balls (balls on which no run was scored) in the West Indies innings, despite which they scored 176 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs. Only one team in the Men's T20 World Cup has scored a higher total after facing more than 50 dot balls: Italy scored 178 runs after facing 54 dot balls against England in this tournament. 126 runs in the West Indies innings came from boundaries (fours and sixes), which is 71.59% of the team's total score.
• 66 - The total number of sixes hit by the West Indies in this World Cup so far. This is the most sixes hit by any team in a single edition of the Men's T20 World Cup. The previous record was 62 sixes, also hit by the West Indies.
• 10 - The number of boundaries (fours/sixes) hit by West Indies batters off the bowling of Marco Jansen. He is the sixth bowler in the Men's T20 World Cup to concede 10 or more boundaries in a single match. Jansen bowled 12 dot balls but conceded 50 runs in his 4 overs. Only one other bowler in T20 Internationals has conceded more than 50 runs while bowling 12 or more dot balls: Matheesha Pathirana, who conceded 56 runs including 13 extras against Bangladesh in 2024.
• 5-1 - South Africa's win-loss record against the West Indies in the Men's T20 World Cup. Their only loss was in Nagpur in 2016. The West Indies have a worse record against only two teams in the T20 World Cup: South Africa and Sri Lanka, against whom their record is 2-6.