Anrich Nortje takes most wickets for South Africa in single T20 WC edition

Tarouba [Trinidad and Tobago], June 27 (ANI): South African pacer Anrich Nortje made history on Thursday, becoming the bowler with the most wickets for his team in a single ICC T20 World Cup edition. Nortje accomplished this record during his side's T20 World Cup semifinal match against Afghanistan at Tarouba. In the game, Nortje took the wickets of Azmatullah Omarzai and Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan, ending with the figures of 2/7 in three overs at an economy rate of 2.33. In the ongoing competition, he has taken 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 13.46 and an economy rate of 5.64, with the best figures of 4/7. He is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament. Nortje overtook the wicket tally of former Proteas spinner Imran Tahir, who had taken 12 scalps during the 2014 edition of the tournament.

Notably, Afghanistan left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi made history on Thursday, becoming the bowler with the most wickets taken in a single edition of the ICC T20 World Cup. During the game against Proteas, Farooqi took the wicket of wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock and ended with figures of 1/11 in two overs. Now in the ongoing tournament, Farooqi has taken 17 wickets in eight games at an average of 9.41 and an economy rate of 6.31, with the best bowling figures of 5/9. He is the leading wicket-taker in the competition as of now.

In the match, Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first. However, pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen made the Asian side regret their decision, reducing them to 28/6. Though Karim Janat (8) and skipper Rashid Khan (8) tried to launch a counterattack with some boundaries, Proteas folded Afghanistan for just 56 runs in 11.5 overs.

Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) and Marco Jansen (3/16) were the top bowlers for Proteas. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje also took two wickets each.

In the run-chase, Proteas lost de Kock early. However, Reeza Hendricks (29* in 25 balls, with three fours and a six) and skipper Aiden Markram (23* in 21 balls, with four boundaries) took SA to the winning score in 8.5 overs.

With this win, Proteas overcame a winless streak in seven World Cup semifinals across both ODIs and T20I formats and reached their first-ever final. Afghanistan's inspirational and dream run ended in the semifinals.

Jansen was given the 'Player of the Match' award. (ANI)