New Delhi: After over a month-long campaign, the decks are now cleared for high-octane finale between Team India and Australia at the grand Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. South Africa, one of the probables for WC final, saw its hopes dashed again after suffering a close defeat at the hands of Australia in second semi-final. Call it a heartbreak or jinx moment of the team, the Proteas have had this habit of getting the house in disorder, during last moments of the cricketing spectacle. This is possibly for the fifth time that the South Africa missed out on their World Cup hopes, despite making it to either semi-final or final. Also, it is widely said that two things greatly determine an individual or team’s performance in the game and they are – peaking at the right moment & choking at wrong ones. Unfortunately, the Proteas have stuck with the second option for most of the time. Here are choker moments of South Africa in World Cups: 1) 1992 setback, due to rains South Africa was well in command of the game, while playing the semi-final. They needed 22 runs in 13 balls to win the match and storming into the final. But, the raingods appeared and halted the match for some tie. After the rainbreak, Proteas still needed 22 runs in just 1 ball, thanks to bizarre calculation by the umpire. This could have been South Africa’s chance to enter World Cup final but they lost the opportunity on back of umpire’s weird calculation. 2) 1999 World Cup fiasco The 1999 World Cup semi-final could have been South Africa’s golden chance to sail into final but lack of co-ordination turned to be the spoiler. Proteas was chasing 214 runs. Lance Klusener had scored 31 runs off 16 balls. In the last over, they looked very close to win the match. Aussies piled up the pressure and the Klusener-Allan Donald pair failed to break the impasse. The match ended in a draw. Australia, which could been pushed aside, made its way into the final yet again, on back of good run rate. 3) 2003 – Duckworth Lewis confusion This was a golden chance for the hosts South Africa to storm into final and lift the coveted trophy. South Africa was playing its last group stage match and needed a win to enter the knockout stage. But, the Sri Lanka-South Africa match got interrupted by rain. South Africa needed just 1 run to get ahead of the rival team as per Duckworth Lewis method but the message probably not reached Marck Boucher at the crease. He played a dot ball and the match ended in a tie. Once again, the Proteas lost the golden chance by a whisker. 4) 2007 semi loss and 2011 Quarter-final losss In the 2007 World Cup semi-final, South Africa got thrashed by Glenn McGrath’s piercive bowling. Proteas could gather just 149 runs, a score easily chased by Australia. In the 2011 quarter-final against New Zealand, South Africa was in winning mode. It was doing a good chase of 222 runs but a sudden four-wicket collapse derailed their run chase and exit from the Top 4. 5) 2015 World Cup Semi-final This was yet another blow to South Africa’s WC title dreams and this came on back of poor fielding by Proteas. South Africa had amassed a good 298 runs but the Kiwis chased down the target in 43 overs, on back of poor fielding & catch drops by the Proteas.
