If South Africa get past that semi-final right, they are going to win T20 World Cup final this year: Brad Hogg

Cricket South Africa. (Photo Source: ICC)

The semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup 2024 have been confirmed and South Africa is set to cross swords with in-form Afghanistan in the first show. On the other hand, India face England in the second semi-final of the ICC event on June 27. Talking around the same, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg feels that if South Africa make it to the summit clash of the World Cup, they are going to lift their maiden ICC Trophy.

Speaking exclusively during Star Sports Press Room, Former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg talked about South Africa’s chances of making it to the finals and winning their maiden ICC title*, said, “They are just spawning from here. It’s amazing. I regard Hendricks as well, I really like him as a player. And then you’ve got to build a wall, they can build a nice spin with especially Klassen. I expect him to do really well against Afghanistan and get to the finals. I think it is going to be South Africa and we have got a really strong squad, good spin with Shamsi and Maharaj.

“I don’t plan on the big nations now, and I think they’ll have to go out there and play it out again instead and just have that confidence to go with the final side. For me, if they get past that semi-final right, South Africa is going to win the final this year. I just think I’ve got the team balanced and I’ve got the aggression as well. I’ve got that kindness. I really like Markram as the captain. He is correct and very composed. And I also think we are going to win as a very well-composed team, not panicking and just setting the right conditions.”

Hogg also opened up on Australia’s dull show against Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s victory over the Kangaroos in the Super 8 turned out to be one of the biggest talking points of the T20 World Cup 2024. Rashid Khan and his men put a splendid show on display to slim Australia’s chances of making it to the semis.

Brad Hogg shared his thoughts on the Australian team’s performance against Afghanistan, and if Pat Cummins could have been the captain for the tournament*, said, “Australia took Afghanistan too lightly. They rocked up. They weren’t at their best. They were terrible in the field. They were terrible with the ball. And at the end of the day, Afghanistan deserved to be there rather than Australia. Talking about Mitchell Marsh, he is probably the bro of the team. He’s like Andrew Symonds. He has a lot of fun.

“If there’s a little bit of division in the camp, or there’s a bit of argy-bargy, he generally lights the load. So, he’s that bro. But the other thing is, Pat Cummins probably wasn’t a certainty to play in the playing XI of this World Cup. If you’re going to drop one of them for an extra spinner, it probably would have been Pat Cummins at the start. And then all of a sudden, you’ve got Nathan Ellis in the mix as well. And I think Nathan Ellis is probably one of our better T20 bowlers and doesn’t really get an opportunity in front of the big three players that we’ve got. So, that’s why Mitchell Marsh is the captain and Pat Cummins is in the T20 line-up.”

Former Indian cricketer S. Sreesanth shared his thoughts on the Afghanistan team and their performance*, said, “The world of cricket loves Afghanistan. A huge thanks to BCCI also for getting them venues like a home team. And the kind of encouragement the Afghanistan team gets is unbelievable. And lots of respect to Rashid Khan. The way that he’s been leading. More like a brotherhood. And it’s so nice to see him literally having a laugh out. And you saw that with those emotions when they were playing. Especially today’s game when they won. It was unbelievable. He spoke about the victory after the game and said thank you to his nation. And what it means not just from the cricketing point of view but from the point of view of life.

“The inspiration that a lot of Afghans are going to get back home. It’s going to be incredible. And all with respect to Jonathan Trott. He’s a great guy. Great coach now. I have never seen him this animated. We could watch Trott literally shouting and screaming. It was so good to see Trott in that role. Afghanistan was executing those plans really well. I think that’s a success for them.”

Hogg shared his thoughts on what went wrong for Australia against India*, saying, “I thought they weren’t prepared. This is a worry with Mitchell Starc. If the ball is not swinging, it doesn’t change his length quickly enough. And he didn’t change his length quickly enough to Rohit Sharma as well when he got hit for 29 runs there. And there was one moment when Rohit Sharma came out of the wicket. And then you saw Mitchell Starc turn around.

“And I don’t know whether he said Rohit’s hitting with the wind or there’s no swing there. That was a moment where I thought Australia were in a lot of trouble. They’re not going to come back because they were starting just to look at what’s going wrong rather than looking for the solutions. So, that’s probably where it went wrong. And also, dropping Hardik Pandya, it was an easy catch there for Mitchell Marsh, the skipper, with a couple of overs to go. And I think Hardik scored 22 off the next 10 balls. You can’t afford to drop Hardik Pandya when you’ve just bought your way back into the game. That was also crucial.”