South Africa team captain Aiden Markram looked devastated and heartbroken as he described his feelings by saying that he was gutted and hurt after the team’s loss in the Twenty20 World Cup final to India.
South Africa finished so far away while being so close to the prize. When the equation said that 26 runs were needed in the last four overs, they had a chance to raise their World Cup trophy.
South Africa appeared to be mere seconds away from triumph, with Heinrich Klaasen dominating the spinners and David Miller poised to welcome him with open arms on the other end.
“Gutted for the time being. It’ll take some time for us to have a really good reflection on a really good campaign the group had. Obviously, for the time being, as I mentioned, it hurts quite a bit. Having said that, I’m incredibly proud of this group of players and everyone involved with the team. I feel they bowled well” Aiden Markram said.
“Don’t think there was a whole lot to work with regards to the pitch. Thought we did well to restrict them to what we thought was a chaseable total. Thought we batted really well as well, and it came down to the wire,” Markram said in the post-match presentation.
“You’ve got to take your hats off to a team like India”- Aiden Markram
“Hopefully it’s one step closer. It’s tournament cricket, it’s tough cricket, it’s not easy to win trophies and you’ve got to take your hats off to a team like India for lifting the trophy. A lot of hard work goes into it. But yeah, we’d like to think we’re one step closer and hopefully moving forward we can get that first win and it can be a snowball effect of quite a few to come,” Markram said.
As South Africa looked set to lose their reputation as “chokers,” the Indian bowlers produced one of the most spectacular comebacks in the history of the Twenty20 World Cup final.
With only 30 runs needed in the final 30 balls, South Africa was dominating the chase. Heinrich Klaasen was removed by Hardik Pandya, though, and 16 runs were required off the final over. India won the match by holding off the opposition’s 176-run total.
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