Cricket News: How South Africa earned - and retained - the 'chokers' tag
In the end, it was yet another case of so near and yet so far for South Africa. They have been labelled 'chokers' on the international stage and in ICC tournaments, but losing to the Netherlands to spectacularly crash out of the T20 World Cup 2022 was a new low, even by their standards
South Africa: Out of the T20 World Cup 2022The equation was so simple – win, and you're in. Not only did South Africa lose, but they also did so against a team that had posed no significant threat to any of the top teams in the group.
They lost to a team that had only registered one win before this game – against Zimbabwe. And they lost by a significant margin – after all, the 13-run margin does not tell the whole story.
And it's always been this way for South Africa – particularly in T20I cricket. Their previous chokes in ODI cricket World Cups are well known, but things take a different twist if looked at in the shortest format.
After all, who can forget their knockout in the inaugural World T20? As the hosts, they were one of the favourites to make the knockouts.
Instead, they failed to do even that. And this is despite losing just one game against India during the group stages.
They took on India in the final group game and, batting second, chased 154 for the win. However, the saving grace for them was that if they scored even 126, they would qualify ahead of New Zealand due to a better net run rate.
So what did they do? They scored 116-9 in their 20 overs and got knocked out of the tournament. But this was only the start.
In 2009, South Africa was imperious and remained unbeaten through the tournament until the semis, when they faced Pakistan.
Their batters were unable to chase down an easy 150 target, partly because of Shahid Afridi's heroics, but also because they failed to score a run.
But worse was to come in the 2010 edition of the tournament, where they crashed out in the Super eights thanks to losing two out of three games.
And somehow, things got even worse in 2012 as they failed to win even a single Super eights game after the group stages and were deservingly eliminated.
Things improved in 2014 as, under a new format, they made it quickly to the semis but fell to the might of chase master Virat Kohli before the final hurdle.
And in 2016, they regressed again, failing to make it out of the group stages as they lost the first of their two group stage matches and were all but out of the reckoning.
Things improved in 2021, but again they failed to make it out of the group stages and, in classic South Africa fashion, that happened due to one loss against Australia to start the tournament.
2022 continues its long tradition of stumbling when it matters the most. Now it remains to be seen what the side will do to overcome this before the next major tournament.