It only seems like yesterday when South Africa were considered cricket’s great underachievers. A nation of cricket titans who would shrink whenever the serious prizes were about to be handed out.
Even as recently as two years ago, in the last T20 World Cup, they showed why they can’t shake the reputation for being chokers.
The Proteas spluttered and failed when a first T20 world title was all but theirs, in the Caribbean in 2024.
The way India snatched that final from them brought to mind all the dropped bats, dropped balls, and misheard run calls from failed World Cups of the past.
And, for all their dominance in India this time around, South Africa still don’t have a senior world title in coloured clothing as yet.
But in the time since that collapse in Barbados, they have become world champions in cricket for the first time. They are the reigning world’s best side in Test cricket, after winning that title at Lord’s last year.
The idea of being chokers does not chime with the present vintage of Proteas, either. They have been there, done that, got the winners’ medal, and they first started collecting them a long while back, too.
When the T20 World Cup final is played in Ahmedabad on March 8, it will be 12 years and one week since three of the players powering their excellence in India won a world title in Dubai together.
Aiden Markram was the captain of South Africa’s Under-19 side who won that title – South Africa’s first global crown at any level – in Dubai. Kagiso Rabada was the star of the team. And Corbin Bosch was the player of the match in the final against Pakistan.
“I felt it was inevitable that it was eventually going to happen,” Markram, speaking in the bowels of Dubai International Stadium, said back then about his young team finally delivery a global trophy for their country.
“We are just the lucky ones to be sitting here. I’m glad we could have done it for our country.”
There is a sense of inevitability about the senior team now, too. Aside from the extraordinary, double-Super Over win over Afghanistan, they have dominated every side they have played so far at this T20 World Cup.
The latest exhibition of their power was against the West Indies on Thursday at the same ground where the final will be played.
West Indies are packed with an enviable amount of power hitters themselves, as shown by the fact Romario Shepherd hit a quick-fire half-century from No 9 against South Africa.
They could yet be in the shake up for the final, but they were outplayed by the Proteas in their Super Eight clash.
Rabada was the thriftiest bowler, taking 2-22 in four overs on a day when sixes were being pounded liberally. Bosch also took two.
And Markram made light work of the run chase, making an unbeaten 82 in just 46 balls, as the South Africans won by nine wickets, with nearly four overs to spare.
Despite another one-sided win, Markram said his side are very aware that they need to be at their best all the time if they are to succeed.
“The guys put in a really good performance a couple nights ago [when they beat India comprehensively] and you wake up the next morning and go, ‘It could all be over in a couple of days’ time’,” Markram said.
“It is seriously cut-throat. It's a high level of cricket, obviously, but the intensity and the amount of energy that drains you each game is quite high.
“You need to stay on your toes. You can't take many things for granted, and [you have to] keep locking into to ultimately why you're here.
“It can be really cut-throat, there are really good teams, so can be tough at times, but I think we've all been through that [before] specifically at T20 World Cups.”
