Confirmed: Proteas to face dangerous opponents in ‘Super 8’ stage

Despite a scare earlier in the competition against Afghanistan, the Proteas have remained unbeaten throughout the pool stage of the T20 World Cup, and have already qualified for the ‘Super 8’ stage of the tournament.

It means the Proteas can afford to mix and match with selections for their ‘dead rubber’ pool clash against the UAE on Wednesday, but proceedings are then set to get far more challenging as South Africa are facing another ‘pool of death’.

First up in the next phase of the competition, the Proteas will take on primary hosts India in front of what will be an incredibly hostile and partisan crowd in Ahmedabad on 22 February (match start at 15:30 SA time).

South Africa will then head into a clash against the unpredictable West Indies on 26 February (11:30 start time), with the islanders having shown impressive form at the start of the tournament as well.

Interestingly, the Proteas would have then been largely expected to face Australia in their final ‘Super 8’ fixture, but they could get a reprieve of sorts as it is in fact Zimbabwe who are suddenly the surprise favourites to progress to the next round.

Proteas Super 8 Schedule at the T20 World Cup

• Sunday, 22 February
  • Opponent: India (Pre-seeded X1)
  • Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
  • Time: 19:00 IST / 15:30 SAST
• Thursday, 26 February
  • Opponent: West Indies (Pre-seeded X3)
  • Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
  • Time: 15:00 IST / 11:30 SAST
• Sunday, 1 March
  • Opponent: Likely Zimbabwe (Inheriting Australia’s X2 seed)
  • Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
  • Time: 15:00 IST / 11:30 SAST

How the Super 8 stage will work

After the pool phase of the tournament, the top two teams from each group progress to the Super 8 stage, which will consist of two groups of four teams.

Once again, each collection of teams will play their group members, with the top two from each group progressing. In all likelihood, the Proteas will need to win at least two out of their three matches if they hope to progress to the knockout stage.

From there, the final four will play in the knockout stage, where the winners of each semi-final will qualify for the final.