SA coach Conrad embracing 'favourites' tag heading into T20 World Cup semi-finals

After securing their seventh straight win at the T20 World Cup, the South Africa head coach feels confident heading into the semi-finals

South Africa are ready to embrace that this T20 World Cup might be theirs to lose, after emerging as one of the competition's strongest sides with the knockouts looming. As the only unbeaten team in the tournament - and with comfortable victories over the co-hosts India and their semi-final opposition, New Zealand - South Africa believe they have earned the right to be considered title contenders. They are not shying from what that brings.

After their seventh straight win of the tournament, against Zimbabwe in Delhi, their head coach Shukri Conrad said: "I'm glad that we're favourites, because I've always felt that as a South African team, you want to be able to play as a favourite. It's easy being an underdog, you know. The expectation isn't that great or that much. Now we've assumed the tag of favourites, which we don't really talk much about.

"If we can continue doing what we're doing, and we need a little bit of luck along the way as well, hopefully that will give us the result on Wednesday. And then, on to our home ground in Ahmedabad for the final."

Conrad said all that with a little bit of mischief in his eye and lightness in his voice - an approach and tone vastly different to South African coaches of the past, who would try to downplay their chances. That may be because he is the only one to have led South Africa to a trophy with the word "World" in it, when they lifted the World Test Championship mace in June.RelatedKeshav Maharaj: 'I wanted to bowl the Super Over'

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However, the lightness of his attitude is more likely down to his perspective. Conrad is a realist, who told that being South African forces him to see the world a certain kind of way, because "in our country, the minority are walking for pleasure but the majority are still walking to get to work". So, sport is what it should be: joyous first, a job later.

He is taking that view into the final four. "There's always pressure. It's what you do with that pressure and how you shift the pressure," he said. "It's really about embracing that pressure. And we don't do things any differently. We're going to prepare exactly the same way for New Zealand and whether we start that game as favourites, probably because we're the only unbeaten side in the competition. I don't know if that adds to the pressure. A semi-final is pressure enough. Playing a top side, New Zealand, is pressure enough. So there's no added pressure."

And even if there was, South Africa feel they've shown they can deal with it. The only game where they have been pushed in at this tournament was in the group stage, against Afghanistan, where they were taken to a double Super Over. Even then, they eventually prevailed.

That result meant that South Africa overcame a possible slip on the banana skin in what was dubbed the group of death. With two wins to their name, they went into the New Zealand match with almost nothing on the line. Since then, pretty much everything has gone their way.

"That Afghanistan game was massive in many respects, because it could so easily have not gone our way. And then, the pressure would really have been on us against New Zealand," Conrad said. "In some sort of way, it really pulled the group together."

Chiefly, it showed how different players can stand up when they are most needed to. After overstepping on what should have been the final wicket, Kagiso Rabada then completed the run-out that tied the game after 40 overs. Tristan Stubbs hit the six that tied the first Super Over. Keshav Maharaj bowled the second one; he did not crack, even after being hit for three successive sixes by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who needed just one more to win the game. That Maharaj wanted to bowl at the most crucial time in the game speaks to how South Africa are running towards, not away from, difficulties. This mantra applies to the squad as a whole.

The batting line-up has lost three wickets in the Powerplay twice against India and Zimbabwe, and the middle order has stepped up each time. "When things get tough, they're still able to fashion something and eke out the right results," Conrad said. "There's that calmness in the side, especially in the batting unit, that whatever the situation, someone will find a way."

The attack has relied on their traditional strengths of seam, and done without a wristspinner, which was one of the criticisms of them when the squad was announced. So far, the strategy has proved effective. "Our bowling attack was fashioned in such a way that we've got wicket-taking options," Conrad said. "That's something that we've driven, especially with guys like KG Rabada and Marco Jansen... Their impact in the match will be through taking wickets.

"And then we might not have left the shores of South Africa with a mystery spinner, but we've got a mystery seamer in Lungi Ngidi, who fills that role for us in the middle overs, and in the Powerplay as well. And Corbin Boshy has done exceptionally well bowling it to death, nailing his yorkers. We've stayed nice and aggressive. They're all Test match bowlers, so bowling a Test match length isn't difficult for them. That's still a really tough length to hit consistently. You might hit it once or twice, but you've got to be really on top of your game to hit that continually."

As for the advantage of playing five out of their seven games in Ahmedabad, South Africa will tell you that they didn't design the schedule. Now, they are on their way to Kolkata to play New Zealand. Eden Gardens was the first venue Conrad coached South Africa at last November, where they won their first Test in the country for 15 years.

"We're looking forward to getting to Kolkata, where our tour a couple of months ago started really well for us," he said, looking back and ahead at the same time. "We're hoping to get some good memories there again."