Five emotional cricketing moments of the decade

#3 South Africa's teary exit from 2015 World Cup

South African players showed their emotions after the WC exit

Since South Africa's readmission in 1992, they had lost all their knock-out games leading up to the 2015 World Cup. It was in the 2015 edition that they won their first-ever knock-out game by beating Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals.

A strong South African team faced an aggressive New Zealand set-up in the semi-finals in Auckland. It was a redemption match for South Africa after losing the quarter-final to the Kiwis in the 2011 WC. Batting first, the experienced duo of Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers led the way for South Africa with the bat in hand.

Just as they were about to switch gears, rain arrived and after a break, David Miller's 18-ball 49 took the total to 281 in 43 overs. Chasing a DLS score of 298, Brendon McCullum got off a brilliant start, scoring 59 off 26 balls.

Despite losing wickets, Corey Anderson and Grant Elliott kept the Kiwis in the game. The proteas were soon under the pump, as a result of which they also missed four run-out opportunities and dropped two catches.

With NZ having managed to drag the game till the final over, with five needed off two balls, Dale Steyn bowled a length ball and Grant Elliott smashed a six over the long-on fence to smash all hopes of a win for South Africa.

The loss left quite an impact on all the South African players as they were left teary-eyed, most of them shell-shocked at yet another failed chance of making a World Cup final.