Under the leadership of Aiden Markram, the South Africa National Cricket Team played the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 against the Rohit Sharma-led Indian National Cricket Team on Saturday, June 29 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. This was the first time that two unbeaten teams met in a T20 World Cup final.
The Proteas were invited to bowl first in the match and restricted India to 176/7. Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje bowled brilliant spells in the innings and picked two wickets each. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen also picked a wicket each.
In search of a goal, South Africa did not start well but a partnership between Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen brought them back into the game. They looked set to clinch their first ICC title after Heinrich Klaasen smashed a quickfire fifty. However, their wicket changed the momentum and South Africa were restricted to 169/8, losing the match by 7 runs.
After the match, South Africa national cricket team captain Aiden Markram said it pained him to end up on the losing side, but added that he was proud of his players. Aiden Markram said:
“I’m gutted at the moment. It will take us some time to have a good reflection on the very good campaign the group had. Obviously at the moment, as I mentioned, it hurts quite a bit. Having said that, I’m incredibly proud of this group of players and from everyone involved with the team. I feel like they pitched well.”
Aiden Markram added that they limited India to an achievable total but could not handle the scoreboard pressure. Aiden Markram stated:
“I don’t think there was a lot to work with as far as the pitch was concerned. I think they did well to restrict them to what we thought was an achievable total. I think we batted really well as well and it all came down to the wire. It was a really good game of cricket. We’ve seen in a lot of our games this season that it’s never over until the last ball is bowled. We never get comfortable, there’s always an element of pressure on the scoreboard. And especially in the final over, things happen quite quickly and they can change quite quickly as well.”
Aiden Markram further stated that with the way they played they could have won the game but unfortunately they couldn’t. Aiden Markram stated:
“That said, we came to a great position that shows we are worthy finalists. We could have won today’s match, but unfortunately we didn’t. Still, as I mentioned, I’m incredibly proud of the group. Hopefully in a very good way ( How does this prepare them for the future?) One thing that is guaranteed about a South African, wherever they are in the world, is that they are a really competitive person, very respectful and a person who will hopefully fight. future, we can learn a lot from those few things and continue to make good use of the skill of the sport. It is still a proud moment for us.
South Africa’s journey in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024
The South African national cricket team, like India, finished the group stage and Super 8 stage undefeated, heading into the showpiece clash of the main tournament. In the group stage, the Proteas were tied with Bangladesh, Nepal, Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
The Aiden Markram-led side started their tournament on a good note by beating Sri Lanka convincingly by 6 wickets and 22 balls remaining on June 3. On June 8, the Proteas faced the Netherlands, who had given them a hard time in the previous two editions of the World Cup. South Africa again played a stressful match against the Dutch but somehow managed to cross the finishing line and won by 4 wickets and 7 balls remaining.
On June 10, the team led by Aiden Markram again played a close match against Bangladesh, but ended up winning by 4 runs. In the end, the Proteas faced Nepal and were on the verge of suffering a massive defeat. But once again they survived and won the game by 1 run.
After qualifying for Super 8, South Africa were placed in Group 2 and had a tough task on their hands as they had to face the West Indies, England and the United States.
In their opening match, South Africa comfortably beat the United States by 18 runs on June 19 before recording a big win over England by 7 runs on June 21. They then needed to beat the West Indies, which they did by 3 wickets and 5 balls remaining, to book a place in the semi-finals.
South Africa’s semi-final was against the giants, Afghanistan, and they needed to be at their best to beat the Rashid Khan-led team. The pitch at Tarouba made things easier for the Proteas as it provided too much help to the bowlers and South Africa bowled out Afghanistan for just 56 before chasing the target with 67 balls remaining and winning by 9 wickets to enter their first Cup final. of the world.
