Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg is backing South Africa to finally end their ICC trophy drought by winning the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies.
South Africa, along with India, is the only unbeaten team left in the tournament as the Proteas, led by Aiden Markram, won all of their matches and will play the high-flying Afghanistan in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup.
Hogg believes that if the Protas managed to beat Afghanistan in the semi-final, they are going to win the title as they have a very balanced time.
“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,” Hogg said while speaking exclusively during Star Sports Press Room.
"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.”
Remember, South Africa, despite having some of the best players in their squads over the years, have never won an ICC trophy. They reached the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2009 and 2014 where they were defeated by Pakistan and India respectively.
Meanwhile, in the 2015 and 2023 ODI World Cups, they were beaten by New Zealand and Australia in the semi-finals respectively.
