Revisiting South Africa's narrowest T20 World Cup triumphs
A spirited South Africa beat Bangladesh by four runs in Match 21 of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in New York. The Proteas successfully defended 113 even though Bangladesh were 94/4. Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah powered Bangladesh, but they fell four runs short. Earlier, SA were restricted to 113/6. Here we decode SA's narrowest T20 WC triumphs in terms of runs.
4-run win over Bangladesh, 2024
Chasing 114, the Tigers were reduced to 50/4 before Hridoy (37) and Mahmudullah (20) added 44 runs. The Tigers couldn't make the required 20 runs in the last three overs thanks to some exceptional death bowling from the SA unit. Keshav Maharaj, who defended 11 runs in the final over, was the pick of the SA bowlers (3/27). Bangladesh finished at 109/7.
3-run win over England, 2014
Chasing 197 in the 2014 T20 WC game against SA, England (193/7) narrowly fell short in Chattogram. Opener Alex Hales (38 off 22) scored the most for the team. Jos Buttler (34 off 24) and Ravi Bopara (31 off 18) made notable contributions lower down the order. No other England batter could even touch the 20-run mark as the Brits lost by three runs.
2-run win over New Zealand, 2014
New Zealand were chasing 171 against South Africa in the 2014 T20 WC game in Chattogram. Ross Taylor (62 off 37) kept the Kiwis ahead in the chase. NZ required just seven runs off the final over, which was bowled by Dale Steyn. The speedster bowled brilliantly as he bowled five dot deliveries besides conceding a solitary boundary. SA, hence, won by two runs.
1-run win over New Zealand, 2009
South Africa stunned NZ in the 2009 T20 WC game in Lord's. Chasing 129, the New Zealanders fell short by a solitary run (127/5). While skipper Brendon McCullum made 57, Ross Taylor (22) and Jacob Oram (24) were the only other batters to enter double digits. Roelof van der Merwe (2/14 in 4 overs) stood out for the Proteas side.
