South Africa don't choke, they mucked up once so there're chockers. India don't play on flat tracks, Pakistan don't cheat at every chance and aren't always in the hardest group at every world tournament as we get told, England aren't good enough to be complacent with every tour they go on. Sometimes teams lose because the team they played was better it's just the newspapers and those of similar standing like to tell us that's the case does not mean it to be true. Being outplayed is not a crime. Credit to India here, no need to pick SA apart, they lost to a better team.

Maybe SA aren't where they think they are. No openers of real quality now, no spinners and the back up fast bowling is not as strong as thought a year or so ago. It happens. The lack of world class players nowdays, beyond an obvious few, leaves us with the impression teams bottle it or are arrogant, easier than admiting they just aren't as good as one thought.

I didn't say they choked. Neither did I attempt to tear them apart. Actually, I like SA and often cheer for them.

Maybe it's bad luck. But losing 10 of 11 semifinals must be disheartening to any team.

They've won the ICC champions trophy before though I think.

1998 Willis Cup? I recall they did. The tournament's name changed to ICC Champions Trophy later.

I was thinking of tournaments that carried the word 'world'.

Was it called Willis cup back then? I started following Cricket around 1998 but I was only 9 so I can't even remember that tournament properly lol.

It is wrong to say SA chocked here. They definately chocked in the 2011 WC and the champions trophy, I think in 2009 when they played in SA.

But coming back to this, SA played pretty well. The bottom line is they lacked quality bowlers to beat India in this conditions. Steyn had an off day and tahir was never going to be enough to stop India.

For me the real chockers off late have been Pakistan, SL and England. England maybe less so, but SL and Pakistan have to be on the top.

Pakistan have reached numerous finals in the last 3-4 years but not many have been converted to victories. Same goes with SL. Numerous finals but barely and cups.

Compare that to a team like India and Australia who when reaches the finals comes out victorious.

I never said SA choked yesterday.

Pakistan is remarkably inconsistent. So, we never know if they have choked or just not played well.

SA, on the other hand, performs at a consistently high level most of the time, and in fact plays better on the road, except when they are in a tournament.

England has never been a good unit in the shorter formats. I think WorldT20 win in 2010 was a one-off exception.

Agree that SL has shown choking tendency on the big stage.

I would like to see how SA do in Australia where the conditions will really suit their bowlers and batsman.

Pakistan is inconsistent but they have done pretty well in World tournaments and they have always mucked it up once they reached the knockout stage. It would be too naive to say that they have been an inconsistent team hence they lost. I think they dont have the nerves when it comes to playing high pressure games and hence they end up losing. the same logic applies to when they play against India in WC matches.

SL are also bottlers.

Maybe NZ also fall in that category. Although with them its more to do with the fact that they generally play above their expectations in these world torunaments and then when they reach semis they dont have much left in their bag.

Sangakkara has scored 19 runs from 5 innings (avg 4.75, sr 53) in this tournament. This level of failure is very unusual for Sanga.

south africa have at times been the number one test team in the world. that's the only title that matters really