In the inaugural T20 World Cup semifinal played here on Wednesday, South Africa defeated Afghanistan for 56 runs, cruising to a commanding nine-wicket win that sent the Proteas to their first-ever final.

For South Africa, it was their first win in eight short-format World Cup semifinals dating back to 1992.

The enduring underachievers gave off the impression that they were everything but as they destroyed the Afghan batting in less than 12 overs at Brian Lara Stadium, limiting their stunned opponents to their lowest-ever T20I total.

Fazalhaq Farooqi removed Quinton de Kock early in the event due to stuttering South Africa’s batting, but Reeza Hendricks and captain Aiden Markram guided the Proteas to their mark in nine overs with no further losses.

“Very happy to have another chance to lift a trophy,” Markram said. We’ve given a lot of people grey hairs because a lot of our games have been quite tight, and I know that many of them are waking up early at home. Thus, maybe this evening provided them with a little more solace.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat in their first semifinal match after an exciting triumph against Bangladesh in their last Super Eight encounter in St. Vincent on Monday. – News reports

A scoreboard

Afghanistan

Hendricks c Jansen b Gurbaz 0

I Zadran b Rabada 2.

Jansen 9 / G Naib b

A Omarzai, b Nortje, c Stubbs

M Nabi b Rabada 0

N Kharote b Jansen 2 c de Kock

K Janat b Shamsi 8 lbw

R. Khan b. Nortje 8

N Ahmad b Shamsi 0 lbw

Shamsi 2 lbw b Naveen

F. Farooqi is still in 2

Bonus: 13 (b 6, lb 1, w 6)

Total: (11.5 overs, all out) 56

1-4, 2-16, 3-20, 4-20, 5-23, 6-28, 7-50, 8-50, 9-50, and 10-56 are the FOW.

O M R W bowling

Jansen, Marco 3 0 16 3

1 0 6 0 Keshav Maharaj

Rabada Kagiso 3 1 14 2

Anrich Nortje 3 0 7 2

Shamsi Tabraiz 1.5 0 6 3

Africa

B Farooqi b de Kock Q 5

Not out yet, R Hendricks

Not out 23 is a Markram

Bonus: (w 2, nb 1) 3

Sum: 1 wicket in 8.5 overs 60

FOW: 1–5.

O M R W bowling

0 15 0 Naveen-ul-Haq 3

Farooqi Fazalhaq 2 0 11 1

Rashid Khan 1 0 8 0.

Omarzai Azmatullah 1.5 0 18 0

Naib Gulbadin 1 0 8 0

Marco Jansen won the player of the match.