South Africa‘s poor record in the knockout rounds of the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments will once again be at the back of their minds as they entered the semifinals of the Champions Trophy on Saturday.
South Africa hammered England by seven wickets in Karachi to finish on top of Group B and now wait to know whether they face India or New Zealand, who meet on Sunday to decide number one and two in Group A, in the semis.
Australia finished second with four points to book the other last-four spot from Group B.
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Pacer Marco Jansen played a key role with the ball for SA on Saturday, taking 3 for 39 besides pouching three catches as they bowled out England for just 179.
Rassie van der Dussen’s 72 and Heinrich Klaasen’s 64 led South Africa’s chase, which they completed in just 29.1 overs.
Jansen was named ‘Man of the Match’ for his effort and believes that his team can maintain the focus and winning momentum in the semifinals despite its poor record in knockout games.
“I wouldn’t say the mindset changes; it’s just the occasion that’s probably a bit more hyped up I guess,” said Jansen.
“You try your processes. It’s a fancy term, but for me it’s just (that) you have your steps or your guides that you go into every match (with) and then basically in the semifinals you just try and do that extraordinarily well.”
South Africa’s only success in an ICC tournament came way back in 1998 when they won the ICC Knockout Tournament. Talking about their recent slip-ups in ICC events, they lost to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup semis and then lost to India in last year’s T20 World Cup final.
Despite this history, Jansen believes South Africa don’t need to make significant changes for the knockout stage.
“For me, it’s just depending on where you play, on what lengths to hit and then as the game develops, try and figure out what works and what doesn’t work,” Jansen said.
Talking about the possibility of facing India, who play all their matches in Dubai as part of a hybrid arrangement, Jansen noted that India will have the advantage of familiarity with the conditions by playing the entire tournament at the same stadium.
“If we play in Dubai and it’s against India, obviously they’ve had training and that kind of stuff, so they will be more used to the conditions. But we’ve also played in Dubai, so it’s not something new. We play spin really, really well. So I don’t think it’s that much or that too much of an advantage,” the pace reckoned.
“I just think it all comes down to, on the day who plays better.”
