South Africa defeated West Indies by nine wickets in the T20 World Cup to maintain their 100 per cent record in the tournament, with the Proteas booked for the semi-finals after India's win over Zimbabwe in the latter.
A remarkable 89-run partnership between Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder took West Indies to a lead of 83-7 and a defendable 176-8 after 20 overs.
But a stormy opening partnership of 95 runs in eight overs between captain Aiden Markram (82 not out) and Quinton de Kock (47) made chasing the target difficult.
Ryan Rickelton added 45 not out as South Africa reached 177-1 in 16.1 overs and extended their unbeaten record in the tournament to six matches.
The winner of West Indies' match with India on Sunday will take the second semi-final spot from Group 1, with South Africa concluding their Super 8 campaign against ousted Zimbabwe on the same day.
South Africa's performance will be excellent in T20 World Cup
Markram set the tone for the chase by hitting seven fours and four sixes in his 82 runs in 46 balls. De Kock hit four sixes and four fours in 47 runs in 24 balls.
Rickelton kept the express scoring going with 45 runs from 28 balls. He and Markram put on an unbeaten 80-run partnership off 50 as South Africa won for the fourth time in Ahmedabad with three overs to spare.
The only wicket was taken by spin bowling all-rounder Roston Chase, who was included in the playing eleven in place of spinner Akeal Hossein.
Fast bowlers Shepherd and Holder could not lead West Indies to victory despite respectable batting for their team.
Shepherd (52 not out) and Holder (49) put on an 89-run partnership to rescue West Indies from an embarrassing 83-7, with Shepherd scoring his maiden T20 half-century.
In a forced powerplay, West Indies lost four wickets in 10 balls and fell to 52-4, with South Africa also dropping three catches in the first six overs.
Kagiso Rabada (2-22) got a slight lead from West Indies captain Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer, who top-edged a pull to wicketkeeper de Kock in the third over. Lungi Ngidi (3-30) dismissed Brandon King and Chase in the fourth over.
Holder and Shepherd pushed the accelerator in the death overs. Holder dismissed Marco Johnson for 23 runs in the 18th over before being run out in the final over.
Shepherd completed his half-century with an inside edge on the last ball of the innings but South Africa kept the score equal.
Markram is enjoying the responsibility of the top order
Player of the match Aiden Markram (82 runs on 46 balls):
“We bowled well and doing well in the powerplay was a big thing for us. After that our batting innings maintained momentum.
“In the second innings, the wicket became good again. Earlier it was difficult so we were lucky during the toss. Our bowlers left us with less work.”
“My planning has gotten into a rhythm and isn't so rigid and structured. The flow with my hands has helped but I just switched it off today. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but when it works it's good.”
“Captain or not, when you open, it is your responsibility. The top three batsmen among us have made sure that we get the team off to a good start. It happened today and hopefully we can continue that.”
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