“They bowled really well up front” - Aiden Markram reveals the reason behind South Africa’s defeat to New Zealand

South African skipper Aiden Markram has heaped praise on the New Zealand bowlers for putting extra pressure on his batters right from the initial overs of the game with good lines and lengths in the first semi-final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday, March 4.

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Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony after New Zealand cruised to the grand finale with a nine-wicket win over South Africa, Markram felt his batters could’ve adopted a more traditional approach and aimed for 190 runs to tighten the screws.

“I think it comes down to the conditions. They bowled really well up front, quite full. Some balls came on nicely, while others held up a bit on the surface and hit low on the bat, which made scoring difficult. That built pressure, and we ended up losing wickets. The pitch looked pretty good, so maybe we could have adapted quicker with the bat. Perhaps we should have taken a more traditional approach — building the innings and grinding our way to around 180–190, which might have kept us in the game,” said Markram in the post-match presentation.

Furthermore, the skipper also lauded Marco Jansen for his unbeaten half-century (55* off 30 balls), which helped South Africa post a competitive total of 169/8 on a flat batting track. Nevertheless, he asserted it was tough for his bowlers to contain the partnership from Tim Seifert and Finn Allen.

“To be honest, getting to 170 was a really good effort. At the halfway stage, we felt we had a chance. But in T20 cricket, the powerplay is crucial, and they got off to a flying start. You can’t protect every boundary, unfortunately, and once they got going, it became very difficult to pull it back. Credit to Finn Allen and Tim Seifert for their knocks — they took the game away from us early,” he concluded.

Chasing 170 runs, New Zealand openers Tim Seifter (58) and Finn Allen (100*) finished off the game in 12.5 overs with nine wickets in hand.

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