Been nursing chai from the jhilli since 5am, thinking about that Rabada-Nortje spell against Netherlands last year. Out here in Imphal, my own ageing kettle reminds me of how domestic systems either hold or break you—the SA fast-bowling factory keeps producing because the pipeline is fed by real, competitive club cricket, not board-appointed committees. But then the knockout heartbreak: is it a selection flaw, or just numbers finally catching up? The data says they win most group games, so maybe the sample size in knockouts is too small to prove a pattern—phijigee, but I’d rather trust the stats than the wailing.