The Proteas have become the second team to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup semifinals on Thursday.
England are the other team to have already assured progression to the semifinals.
Aiden Markram’s men trounced the West Indies by nine wickets earlier in the day in Ahmedabad before hosts India thumped Zimbabwe by 72 runs in Chennai in the evening.
The unbeaten Proteas now have four points with a net run-rate of 2.890, whilst West Indies (NRR 1.791) and India (-1.0) are both locked on two points after two matches. Zimbabwe have been knocked out after losing to both West Indies and Zimbabwe.
The Proteas cannot be pushed out of the two places even though they still have one match remaining against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Defending champions India and West Indies meanwhile are locked into a virtual quarterfinal shootout with the victor progressing to the semifinals.
Proteas captain Markram stated that they will not take their African neighbours Zimbabwe lightly in the final Group 1 match even though qualification has been assured.
“It can sometimes be more nerve-wracking to be honest, but you give them the absolute respect that they deserve, they’re there for a reason and have beaten some quality teams in the group stages and coming into this,” Markram said.
“So again, if you want to win a competition, you want to keep the good things going for as long as possible and you don’t want to take your foot off the gas and I’m sure that’s where a lot of the conversations will be around going into that game.”
