After copping a heavy World Cup defeat against England, the Proteas have beaten New Zealand and now India, in what was one of the most compelling matches of the tournament so far.

The result gave South Africa their second consecutive victory while India suffered their first defeat of the tournament.

Maphaka burst onto the global stage at the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024, where his 21 wickets at 9.71 earned him player of the tournament honours despite being just 17.

"If you have a Test team that is strong and plays regularly, that has spin-offs for the other formats," he told reporters

Gabela, 35, said: "I had to be here and welcome the boys home. They have suffered so many heartbreaks during the past two decades. Now we are champions of the world."

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has been cleared to return to cricket following a reduced suspension for testing positive for a banned recreational substance.

If South Africa beat New Zealand to reach Sunday's decider, they will at least know by then if they will take on India in Dubai, or Australia in Lahore.

Cricket South Africa announced that 24-year-old Coetzee had recovered from a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the current SA20 franchise competition in South Africa.

Nortje was named in South Africa’s squad on Monday, but 48 hours on officials have said he will not recover in time from a back problem ahead of the Group B opener against Afghanistan on Feb. 21. England and Australia are also in the pool.

Only once before in their history have South Africa won more Tests in succession, when they claimed nine victories on the trot between 2002 and 2003.

Five Test wins in a row, made up of away victories over West Indies in Guyana in August, two in Bangladesh in October and two more over Sri Lanka, means South Africa top the table of Test results over the last two-year cycle and are within touching distance of a place in the final at Lord’s from June 11-15.

Victory allowed the Proteas to avenge a shock T20 loss to the same opponents last weekend.

Steady rain restricted play to just the final session on the fourth day.

Bavuma's determined 86 and a more enterprising 78 from de Zorzi were linchpins in the Proteas' effort on a benign surface offering little for the bowlers but also made free scoring difficult because of its two-paced nature.

Bavuma was not involved in the T20 World Cup in which South Africa were beaten finalists.

Markram hoped that this would be the first of more finals to come, in particular when South Africa host the 50-over Cricket World Cup in 2027.

Markram paid tribute to those who were unable to overcome the hurdle in previous tournaments.

After skittling Afghanistan for 56 at Trinidad's Brian Lara Stadium, the Proteas cruised to their victory target, finishing on 60-1.

The Proteas piled up 194-4 off their 20 overs after being put into bat.

Bangladesh enter the T20 World Cup with a bit of uncertainty as they continue to look for their strongest XI. Experienced opener Litton Das has been out of form of late with an average of 13.16 this year in six matches. Although teammate Tawhid Hridoy is confident that Das will make a strong comeback in the tournament.