Unbeaten South Africa face surprise package Afghanistan in the early hours of Thursday morning at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Then, India take on defending champions England in a heavyweight clash to be staged at Providence Stadium in Guyana later that day.
That match pits the pre-tournament favourites, who have won every game they have played out in the US and West Indies, against the team that beat them in the last four two years ago.
They are familiar foes in this format, but that is not the case in the other semi-final, as South Africa have not played Afghanistan in a competitive T20 international for eight years.
- AFGHANISTAN TO WIN
- A FIFTY TO BE SCORED - NO
- ENGLAND HIGHEST 1st WICKET PARTNERSHIP
- ADIL RASHID OVER 1.5 WICKETS
South Africa vs Afghanistan
The Proteas have won both of the previous competitive short-format clashes with Afghanistan and enter this one as the hot favourites to reach their second-ever global final.
But they have suffered much semi-final heartache since that solitary final appearance at the 1998 ICC Champions Trophy, with ten consecutive defeats in the last four of major global tournaments.
South Africa have, rightly or wrongly, gained a reputation for being chokers when the chips are down and Aiden Markram’s side will want to put that talk to bed once and for all at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Afghanistan, who are appearing in their first semi-final, have a slight advantage in that they have already played one game in this tournament at the venue.
The Blue Tigers raced to a seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea back in the initial group phase and will know exactly what is in store from the Tarouba track.
They also have several players who appear to be peaking at the right time with the tournament’s leading run-scorer and top wicket-taker in their ranks.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has scored 281 runs in seven innings with an average of 46.83. The 22-year-old wicketkeeper bat made 43 in Monday’s Super 8s win over Bangladesh that clinched the Blue Tigers' semi-final berth.
But the match ended painfully for him when he was struck on the knee by a Naveen-ul-Haq full and wide delivery and had to sit out the rest of the fielding effort.
He was unable to participate fully in the joyous scenes of celebratory dancing alongside his teammates after the game, and would be a huge miss for Afghanistan if not deemed fit enough to face the Proteas.
Leading bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi claimed 12 wickets in the Blue Tigers’ first three matches but has since taken only four more in as many games.
However, he returned figures of 3-33 against India in the Super 8s — claiming the scalps of star batters Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.
His left-arm angle has proved tricky for some of the best right-handed batters in the world and he could cause plenty of problems to a Proteas line-up featuring four right-handers in the top five.
No spinner has taken more wickets in the tournament than leggie Rashid Khan and with left-armer Noor Ahmed and off-break bowler Mohammed Nabi providing further variety, Afghanistan arguably have more bases covered than South Africa in their attack.
And that could be where the game is won and lost on a wicket that has not yielded many runs in the tournament.
Low scores have been common, with the highest successful chase being only 133 and both teams are likely to want to bat first.
The toss, therefore, could be pretty significant, while Afghanistan have a much better chance of victory than the odds suggest given their momentum and capacity to surprise.
Results from the other T20 World Cup matches played at this ground indicate another low-scoring affair could be on the cards.
Only one half-century was scored in the four group-stage games with an average of 13.31 runs per wicket.
Betting on no fifty to be scored in the match at odds of around 3/1 represents some value here.
Gurbaz has scored 29.5 per cent of Afghanistan’s runs and he is an injury doubt for the contest, while only two South Africans have passed 50 in the competition.
India vs England
The odds favour India to get their revenge over England in the second semi-final.
Although the defending champions produced a superb performance to beat India by 10 wickets in Adelaide two years ago, the men in blue have taken the last two bilateral series 2-1 in England and 3-2 at home.
The head-to-head results reveal one significant trend when these two meet — they are rarely close affairs. That could be because both teams have world-class batters who can influence the outcome significantly if they are having a good day.
That was the case in each team’s last match when Rohit Sharma’s 92 off 41 balls sent Australia packing and Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 83 off 38 sealed a double-quick win over the United States.
England's opening partnership has been delivering strong performances throughout the T20 World Cup.
Buttler and Phil Salt put on 117 against the USA, 67 in their Super 8s win over the West Indies and added 73 runs in the group-stage defeat to Australia.
The dynamic Lancashire Lightning duo’s average opening stand in T20Is is an impressive 58.21 and they can ensure England get off to a solid start in Guyana.
The average opening stand for India in this tournament is 15.17, although it must be pointed out that they played their first three games at New York on a drop-in wicket that was notoriously uneven.
There were doubts over whether England’s bowling unit could cut it in this tournament with Jofra Archer returning from injury and others like Chris Jordan and Sam Curran vulnerable on flat wickets.
But few doubted whether Adil Rashid would perform to his usual high standard and the leg spinner has delivered exactly what has been expected.
Rashid has been England’s most economical bowler in four of their last five matches and he has taken some important wickets too.
The surface for this match in Guyana appears tailor-made for spinners with plenty of turn on offer.
Given these conditions and Rashid's current form, the Bradford-born bowler should be primed to pick up a couple of wickets against India.
