Sports News: SA vs AFG: South Africa Dominates T20 World Cup; Inzamam's Concerns and India's Replacement Player Highlight Cricket Updates

South Africa made it into a first T20 World Cup final following a nine-wicket thrashing of Afghanistan at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. Asked to bat, Afghanistan felt the force of the South African pace attack, for they collapsed in the face of Marco Jansen's 3 for 16, Kagiso Rabada's 2 for 14, and Anrich Nortje's 2 for 7—with a fine turnout for Tabraiz Shamsi taking 3 for 6 as well. Afghanistan could only manage 56 runs, with Azmatullah Omarzai top-scoring with 10. South Africa hardly broke a sweat in chasing down the target, achieving it with 67 balls to spare.

Though Afghani's cricket team has been touted as the success story of the T20 World Cup 2024, it is Pakistan's team that has been at the receiving end of attacks following its poor show. Former Pakistan cricketers have targeted not only their own players but Indian teams also. Inzamam insinuated against Arshdeep Singh for apparently able to reverse swing the ball early in India's match against Australia. He said the umpires should be more alert. Then it was joined by Salman Malik who reiterated the same thing and said that this prejudice and biasness was always showered on some teams, especially India.

All-rounder Nitish Reddy, uncapped, has been reported out of India's Zimbabwe tour days after his maiden call-up to the T20I team. BCCI has announced Shivam Dube as his replacement, with Reddy's condition continuously being monitored by the board's medical team. Reddy has attractive stats in his debut IPL season, where he scored 303 runs and picked up three wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Shubman Gill will lead the team for the tour as Shivam Dube is already in the Caribbean for the T20 World Cup. This tour has been scheduled for five T20Is commencing on July 6 in Harare.

Travis Head of Australia moved ahead of India's Suryakumar Yadav as per the latest ICC T20 rankings to become the number-one batter, thanks to his stellar performance through the T20 World Cup. Head scored 255 runs with two half-centuries, when his side was bowed out of the championship. Suryakumar remains just two points behind and can still get back to the top spot as India's campaign is not yet over. They are followed by England's Phil Salt and then Pakistan's Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to round out the top five batters. Amongst the bowlers, India's Jasprit Bumrah jumped 24 places to be placed 24th while Kuldeep Yadav climbed three spots to be placed 11th. Axar Patel is the highest-placed Indian bowler at eighth.

India women as part of the Women's T20 Asia Cup, to be held at Dambulla, Sri Lanka, will open their campaign against traditional arch-rivals Pakistan on July 19. It will feature top-eight teams from the continent from July 19 to July 28. This is placed in a pool consisting of Pakistan, UAE, Nepal, and India. The best two of each group will then proceed into semi-finals on 26th July, with the final being on 28th. India has been the most successful team with seven titles to date and look to dominate once again.

Fielder Gulbadin Naib of Afghanistan stoppage due to injury stopped play -- the team's final T20 World Cup group match against Bangladesh. With Afghanistan needing victory, Naib's apparent hamstring problem brought about a stoppage in the match -- rainfall -- that curtailed Bangladesh's run chase and affected the momentum. Critics, including Ravichandran Ashwin, said Naib had acted to slow down the game. Despite all the controversies, Afghanistan still won the match with eight runs. Captain Rashid Khan renounced the incident's effect on the outcome.

The much-awaited contest of the T20 WC 2024 semi-final will see off India against England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana; both camps will be eying redemption for the defeat at the hands of England during the semifinals in 2022. India will go into the match as an unbeaten side in the ongoing campaign. Focussed England sealed the win against West Indies and USA. The weather will be rain interrupted with periodic thundershowers, though the temperature should come to the fore at 30°C during the day. "The match featuring some key players like Rohit Sharma and Jos Buttler will be streamed live on Disney+Hotstar.

Afghanistan went on to record their worst performance in T20I cricket and their lowest total ever recorded in the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinal by managing 56 runs against South Africa. An attack led by Marco Jansen's 3/16 was supported by Kagiso Rabada's 2/14, Anrich Nortje's 2/7, and Tabraiz Shamsi's 3/6, as Afghanistan was blown away early, losing five wickets inside the powerplay. The unrelenting pressure was too much for Afghanistan, despite Rashid Khan's best efforts, folding up the innings as early as 11.5 overs against South Africa.