Seven wins from seven and suddenly a tag South African sides have often ducked – tournament favourites – sits squarely on their shoulders. Head coach Shukri Conrad is not fussed. In fact, he rather likes it.
“I’m glad that we’re favourites, because I’ve always felt that as a South African team, you want to be able to play as a favourite. It’s easy being an underdog, you know. The expectation isn’t that great or that much. Now we’ve assumed the tag (of favourites), which we don’t really talk much about.”
Those words came moments after another calm victory, this time over Zimbabwe in Delhi, closed out a spotless Super Eight campaign. The obvious question now is whether the Proteas can keep that composure when they face New Zealand in Wednesday’s semi-final.
Key facts first
• South Africa are the only unbeaten side at this T20 World Cup.
• Comfortable wins over co-hosts India and semi-final opponents New Zealand headline their run.
• The side has needed just one genuine escape act – a double Super Over success against Afghanistan in the early group stage.
Conrad’s confidence stems partly from his recent track record. He remains the only South African coach to get his hands on silverware with “World” engraved on it, having guided the Test side to the World Test Championship mace last June. But the 56-year-old insists perspective is what keeps any arrogance at bay.
Earlier this year, he reflected on life outside the cricket bubble: growing up in a country where, as he put it, “the minority are walking for pleasure but the majority are still walking to get to work”. For him, sport must be “joyous first, a job later.”
Pressure? Yes – but normal pressure
“There’s always pressure. It’s what you do with that pressure and how you shift the pressure,” Conrad explained, a half-grin giving away both nerves and excitement.
He expanded: “It’s really about embracing that pressure. And we don’t do things any differently. We’re going to prepare exactly the same way for New Zealand and whether we start that game as favourites, probably because we’re the only unbeaten side in the competition. I don’t know if that adds to the pressure. A semi-final is pressure enough. Playing a top side, New Zealand, is pressure enough. So there’s no added pressure.”
The semi-final meeting is a repeat of last week’s group clash – South Africa won that one with five wickets and plenty of overs in hand. Yet knocking over the Black Caps twice in a fortnight remains tricky. New Zealand often thrive the deeper a tournament goes, and knockout cricket has its own quirks – a single bad over, a mis-judged slower ball, the wrong match-up at the death, and the narrative flips.
Balanced optimism
Inside the South African camp, players talk about “doing the ordinary things, ordinarily well” – dotting that fuller length in the powerplay, rotating strike rather than reaching for sixes on slow Indian pitches, letting the two left-arm spinners choke the middle overs. None of it is glamorous, but it keeps opponents stranded between par and panic.
Conrad is frank about the luck factor, too. “If we can continue doing what we’re doing, and [we] need a little bit of luck along the way as well, hopefully that will give us the result on Wednesday. And then, on to our home ground in Ahmedabad for the final.”
Ahmedabad, with its giant bowl of a stadium and expected sea of green-and-gold shirts flown in from Gauteng and the Cape, could feel like home even though South Africa are touring. That thought excites the coach but, ever cautious, he pushes it aside until after the semi-final.
Looking ahead
One semi-final win would leave the Proteas 40 overs from ending the nation’s long wait for a limited-overs world title. Fans old enough still remember 1992, 1999, 2015 – exits etched in sporting folklore. Conrad refuses to let those ghosts creep into the dressing-room talk. This group, he argues, has its own story.
For now, the story is simple. South Africa are unbeaten, unflustered and unashamed to be favourites. New Zealand will ask the next hard question; the answer arrives on Wednesday night in Guyana.
