"Cricket sucks."
That was Ryan Rickelton's assessment after finishing on the winning side of the only match in T20 World Cup history to go to two Super Overs. Yes, the winning side. Because cricket, at its most tense, most frenzied, and most scatterbrained, takes it out of everyone, even those who come out on top.
Don't doubt that Rickelton was relieved that South Africa eventually triumphed over Afghanistan in a match where control juggled between the two sides, but he knew how many times his team could have dropped the ball, so to speak. Advantage was an illusion, emerging on one side then evaporating and reincarnating on the other. There were moments, so many moments, when both teams could have finished it and the result would only have been a thrillingly close contest.
Instead, the end came like a glass shattering, and left behind shards of what-ifs that Afghanistan, in particular, could be picking up for some time to come.
South Africa held control when Rickleton and Quinton de Kock put on 114 for the second wicket, and ceded it as Rashid Khan removed them both and took his 698th and 699th T20 wickets. That was just the beginning of the rollercoaster.
South Africa's 187 for 6 looked a decent enough score, considering Afghanistan had successfully chased 180 or more only twice before in T20Is, and especially when Lungi Ngidi took two wickets in his second over. But Rahmanullah Gurbaz's lone-hand kept Afghanistan in it, and threatened to snatch the game away from South Africa entirely until George Linde held on to a stunning grab at short third in the first of several memorable catches.
The more Afghanistan tried to hit out, the better South Africa caught, and the better they fielded. De Kock's quick response to run out Darwish Rasooli at the non-striker's end was crafty and calculated. Tristan Stubbs' self-relay catch to dismiss Azmatullah Omarzai at long-on was all instinct and awareness. Marco Jansen's direct hit to end Mujeeb Ur Rahman's knock was pure athleticism.
As the end approached, South Africa had their finger on the off switch and should have ended the game when, with 13 runs needed off the final over, Noor Ahmad hit Kagiso Rabada's first ball straight to Aiden Markram at cover. Then, the dreaded siren came. Rabada had overstepped. The light flickered for Afghanistan.
Against the grain, Rabada went on to have a shocker in an over that included another wide and a no-ball. Noor could have ended things by refusing a run off the fourth legal ball, or by taking one and trusting No. 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi, but he pushed for a second to win it. As Farooqi scrambled to make ground, Markram's throw came in and Rabada broke the stumps athletically, but South Africa's spirits seemed to have snapped. Their fielders stayed on the ground, many on their haunches, with the few thousand inside the Narenda Modi Stadium stunned into near-silence.
What had they just seen? Had Afghanistan come back from 52 for 3 and then 175 for 9 and surpassed South Africa's 187? Or had South Africa, patron saints of failing under pressure, earned a second chance, and another chance at sainthood in the church of near misses? It was, it turned out, the latter.
Cricket's version of the penalty shootout loomed. Afghanistan, at least, had recent(ish) experience, against India in 2024. South Africa's only memory dated back to 2019, and only two members of that side - de Kock and David Miller - were playing this game. Neither side had had played a Super Over with this much at stake. Afghanistan had already lost to New Zealand and could not afford another defeat. South Africa were still due to play New Zealand. This was effectively a knockout and the teams had to play the situation that way.
Rabada was sent to field in the deep. Ngidi, South Africa's best bowler across the two games, was the obvious choice but he started with a low full toss that Omarzai hit for four. South Africa had to chase 18 and sent in Miller and Dewald Brevis. Those were their best options on reputation, but as Miller mistimed a full-toss first up, memories of Barbados 2024 came flooding back.
On the bench, those who could do nothing were going through everything. "It was just anxiety," Rickelton said. "We were sitting there upstairs, fingers crossed, [saying] 'come on guys, come on guys,' and it was just more hope than anything."
Brevis, the new face of South African bravery, hit a short ball for six and the idea that he could do it on his own hung in the air, but only until he did not pick up the slower short ball that Farooqi bowled next. Stubbs then made good on his promise to go "full on" as finisher, and tied the scores with a last-ball six, which only added to the drama.
"We were all in it," Rickelton said. "We rode the emotions, obviously, just like everyone else did. And it was pretty tough."
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And then, after living through it all once, both teams had to go out and do it all over again. In the cold, harsh light of hindsight, this is the phase of play where Afghanistan might have got it wrong.
They stuck to seam and used Omarzai when Rashid had been their best bowler. Omarzai had no chance against Stubbs, who had his eye in. He picked the slower ball and slogged him for six and handed over to Miller, who, determined not to let it slip again, finished off with two sixes and a two.
Then, in search of 24, Afghanistan sent in Mohammad Nabi ahead of Gurbaz, another head-scratcher.
Their reasoning was Nabi's ability against spin, with Keshav Maharaj set to bowl, and it may have been a sound idea in theory, but Gurbaz had dominated the day and should have been allowed to finish it.
He proved it when he came in after Nabi and struck three sweet sixes, but a fourth was an ask too great. As he picked out point, Gurbaz swiped his bat angrily in the air, stamped his feet, and stormed off. He had not let himself or his side down, but he hadn't been able to do what they needed, when they needed it most.
As he left the stage, South Africa celebrated like they had won something big, and they had: the match, more than likely a ticket to the Super Eights, and another example of doing what people said they couldn't, rising above a suffocating match situation. But they will know that they came as close as it gets to losing it.
And Rickelton was right. Cricket certainly sucks. Just ask Afghanistan.