Cobwebs of customary choking and self-doubts: Aakash Chopra fires warning to South Africa ahead of T20 WC semi-final

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has highlighted the problematic areas for South Africa ahead of their World Cup semi-final against Afghanistan in Trinidad on Thursday.

This is the first time that the Proteas have qualified for a T20 World Cup semi-final since 2014. They have a tough challenge up on their hands as they will be facing Afghanistan.

The Proteas have won two previous T20 World Cup games against Afghanistan but this is a different Afghan side The players are in form and are willing to play well for the team. So far different players have stood up for the team in different matches across different conditions.

Aakash Chopra Fears South Africa's Customary Choking

Previewing the game on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said that South Africa's old habit of choking in big games might come back to haunt them.

"South Africa's problem is the cobwebs of the customary choking. They will once again find themselves there. Self-doubts are their biggest enemy. In the last ODI World Cup, they were playing very well but what happened in the end?" he said.

Chopra took the example of South Africa's semi-final defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup to prove his point.

"You realized that you score 450 when you bat first and 150 when you bat second. So you felt you should bat first in the semi-final even though there was moisture on the surface. The Kolkata pitch was screaming that you should bowl first but they said they would bat first as they were unable to bat later," Chopra recalled.

However, the former Indian opener complimented Aiden Markram and his team for handling the pressure better this time around.

"One thing that will change with this team is that it's happened for the first time that it's been raining, DLS has come into play, and South Africa have been at an advantage. They are always at the receiving end but something different has happened in this World Cup. They have won many close games," he observed.

The former Indian cricketer further felt that the Trinidad pitch will help the South African pacers who are tall and have pace and bounce that they can extract from this pitch. He added that the spinners might not get as much help on this pitch as the pacers.

"This pitch doesn't have much turn. It has uneven bounce and when there is uneven bounce, fast bowlers are dangerous and difficult to negotiate because the ball will climb at times and stay low on other occasions. "Spinners don't trouble that much if there is uneven bounce. You can go on the front and play with the straight bat and you can survive, but you cannot play fast bowlers like that on a pitch where there is a lot of up-down behavior, and some balls turn out to be grubbers, and that is happening on this pitch," Chopra explained.

South Africa are on a seven-match winning streak. However, it can all go to waste if they lose the semi-final to Afghanistan.

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