Group C of the 2010 World Twenty20 was an interesting one. You had two of the best teams (India and South Africa) against a brand new team that we all heard a lot about, as Afghanistan stepped out from the shadow of their turbulent past and into the world of international sporting competitions. Even thought Twenty20 cricket is notable for evening out the playing field between strong and weak teams, only India and South Africa were really expected to qualify for the Super Eights. If only it was that easy for them. Ironically, given how they performed in the Super 8s, it is Afghanistan who can hold their heads up higher.

Group C

India - International Twenty20 cricket has not been kind to its inaugural world champions. After snatching a nail-biting victory against Pakistan in 2007, India failed to win a game in the Super 8s stage of the 2009 World Cup. Their plans 2010 were thrown into disarray, as star batsman Virender Sehwag pulled out of the tournament with an injury. Suresh Raina looked as though he would take over, scoring the only the third century in international Twenty20 cricket against South Africa, but the Indian batsmen were undone by the attacking bowling of Australia and the West Indies. Only Harbhajan Singh impressed with the ball, as India left the 2010 tournament in exactly the same fashion as they did the 2009 edition - winless in the second round.

South Africa - South Africa are one of the best teams in international cricket - except in global tournaments, when everything seems to go wrong for them. On paper, they have the batting and the bowling to win every game they play. Victories against the innocent lambs Afghanistan and an underperforming New Zealand team meant nothing against losses to India, England and Pakistan. AB de Villiers was the only batsman to make his mark, with the rest of the batting taking so long to bat themselves in that by the time they accelerated, the game was beyond them. This left Dale Stayne and Mornie Morkel, two of the tournament's best bowlers, with far too much to do to bowl their team to a win. If anything, the only reason South Africa avoided the "chokers" tag was because they didn't get close enough to choke.

Afghanistan - All eyes were on Afghanistan to see how they would represent their beleaguered country after a civil war, a repressive government and invasion. Their team never threatened an upset, but they performed admirably well and have plenty to look forward to as they are exposed to more cricket. Noor Ali's half-century against India, and Hamid Hassan's three wickets against South Africa gave Afghanistan plenty to be proud of, and while they lost both games convincingly, it was to be South Africa and India who exited the tournament with their heads hanging.