‘It’s good for it to sting,’ says Markram after Proteas come up short

“It’s just gut-wrenching,” said Aiden Markram, summing up the feelings of his team and millions of South Africans who watched the Proteas go down by seven runs to India in Saturday’s T20 World Cup final. 

In an absorbing contest between two teams who went into the match unbeaten, two of India’s greatest players, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, had to produce performances of the highest quality to earn their side a first world title in more than a decade. 

The wait for the Proteas, who played in their first World Cup final, continues.

“Just for the time being, it stings, but it's good for it to sting,” said Markram. “It gives you that little bit of fire in the belly for next time you're here.”

India scored 176/7 at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbadoa with Kohli, who batted for 19 overs, making 76 off 59 balls. South Africa delivered a well-crafted and calculated pursuit, getting the required equation down to a seemingly winnable 30 runs required off 30 balls. 

But the spectre of Bumrah — who still had two overs to bowl at the stage — hung heavy over proceedings. When Hardik Pandya dismissed Heinrich Klaasen, for 52, Bumrah snatched back the initiative for India in his next over. 

He conceded just six runs off his last 12 deliveries and dismissed Marco Jansen, with a stunning inswinger, leaving David Miller to try to score 16 off the last over. 

There India again produced magic via Suryakumar Yadav’s boundary catch to end Miller and ultimately South Africa’s hopes. 

“It’s not the first game of cricket that’s been lost with a team needing 30 off 30 — it’s more that India were allowed to bowl well, they were allowed to field well, they were allowed to go from that position to a position of strength,” the South African captain said. 

“They bowled really well in the back end and had very simple plans and executed really well. From a run a ball, it can go to 10 an over in the space of one over. So, your game plan as a batter changes.

“You're potentially thinking you're keeping the ball on the ground, running hard until the job's done and the bowler bowls a good over. The next thing you'd be searching for boundaries and everything changes quickly like that.”

He couldn’t pinpoint one moment that stood out. Instead several incidents proved pivotal.

The Proteas conceded 42 runs in the last three overs of India’s innings while India went for just 18 off the last four they bowled in South Africa’s reply.

Klaasen’s wicket was another key point, which came after an extended break in play when Indian wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant, needed treatment for a knee ailment. It clearly upset Klaasen’s rhythm.

He’d survived the first of Bumrah’s last two overs, having earlier turned the course of the South African innings with a brutal assault on Axar Patel, smashing him for two fours and a pair of sixes in the 15th over, in which a total of 24 runs were scored. His dismissal left Miller needing to manage the lower order against Bumrah and the impressive Arshdeep Singh. Of the next 17 balls, Miller faced just seven.

Critically, in such a narrow contest, that Kesh Maharaj absorbed two dot balls to start the 19th over was another key moment. 

And then there was Yadav’s catch. “To pinpoint something is quite tough but we'll reflect over the next few days, over the next few weeks, try to find areas that we could have maybe improved in during today's game.”

Overall, South Africa’s World Cup campaign was one his players could be proud of, said Markram. They won eight matches in a row, a number of them in the last over and then played their part in a memorable final.

“Each player has been on a different individual journey to get to this first final. Ultimately you become really tight as a group and you want good things to happen to this group because you know they're great people and when you get really close like that, especially the nature of how the game went, obviously adds to the emotions. 

“It's one of those things but, yeah, we can channel it moving forward. But I think in the next couple of days you let it be, you let yourself feel the way you want to feel and then really start reflecting in a positive manner,” Markram said.