Last Updated on 1 month ago by Charbel Coorey
Michael Vaughan has labelled South Africa as the “stupidest team” of the recent T20 World Cup. Speaking on the Stick To Cricket Podcast, Vaughan said South Africa should have let West Indies beat them in the Super Eights to all but knock favourites and hosts India out of the tournament.
For context, South Africa thrashed India by 76 runs to kick off the Super Eights. West Indies also beat Zimbabwe very comfortably. All of a sudden, India’s best chance at qualifying for the semi-finals was for South Africa to beat West Indies, which meant a virtual quarter-final against the latter provided Suryakumar Yadav’s team beat Zimbabwe, which they did.
South Africa the stupidest team for beating West Indies – Michael Vaughan
India went unbeaten for the remainder of the tournament, beating Zimbabwe and West Indies in the Super Eights. They then beat England in a hard-fought, high-scoring semi-final and thrashed New Zealand in the final. Vaughan believes South Africa had the chance to keep India at bay.
“I tell you what I think is the stupidest team of the tournament. South Africa,” Vaughan said. “I’ll tell you why. If South Africa had allowed the West Indies to beat them in the Super 8s, India would have been knocked out.”
“You’re not allowed to do that,” replied Phil Tufnell, to which Vaughan responded, “No, but I’m just talking. If they’d have just cleared them out, the juggernaut that was coming, by winning that game, they allowed the juggernaut to go, we’ll beat Zimbabwe, we’ll beat the West Indies in a quarter-final, then we’ll beat England.”
Alastair Cook then responded with the ceveat that a South Africa defeat against West Indies would’ve meant a must-win match against Zimbabwe. The Proteas have a history in such encounters, including the Netherlands in 2022. However, Vaughan believes South Africa were still well placed.
“They [South Africa] had to play Zimbabwe next. So South Africa were going to play Zimbabwe next,” Vaughan said.
“I’m just saying, if there’d been a loss to the West Indies that day, India would not have won the World Cup.
“If you want to win a World Cup, get rid of the best team, early.”
