Steyn, Smith rejoice in Proteas' first showpiece final since 1998

"It's emotional down here. We're into a final" former South Africa speedster Dale Steyn wrote on his social media post seeing his side reach the final of the cricket showpiece event for the first time.

It was Proteas' first semifinals victory in eight attempts, beginning in 1992, as they demolished Afghanistan's T20 World Cup dream in ruthless fashion with a nine-wicket victory in the first semifinal, in Trinidad today.

"We're in the Finals. Couldn't be happier for @AidzMarkram [Aiden Markram] and the team, one more to go," former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith expressed his joy on social media after the victory.

This will be South Africa's first senior men's final since the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998, where the side led by Hansie Cronje defeated Brian Lara's West Indies team in the title decider.

In today's encounter at the Brian Lara Stadium, the perennial underachievers looked anything but nervous as they ripped through the Afghan batting in less than 12 overs, restricting their shellshocked opponents to their lowest-ever score of 56 in T20 Internationals.

South Africa's batting stuttered at times during the tournament and Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled Quinton de Kock early, but Reeza Hendricks and skipper Aiden Markram got the Proteas to their target without further losses inside nine overs.

"Really chuffed for us to have one more crack at lifting a trophy," Markram said.

"A lot of our games have been really close and I know there's a lot of people back at home in the early hours of the morning waking up, and we've given them a lot of grey hairs.
"So hopefully this evening was a little bit more comforting for them."

For Markram, who led South Africa to the Under-19 men's title in 2014 in Dubai, it was all about making the most of good luck.

"I was fortunate to have lost the toss, I guess, because we also would have batted. But still the bowlers had to get it in the right areas and they did that," he explained.

"It's not really the captain who gets you to this stage of a competition. It's a massive squad effort involving those behind the scenes and off the field."