BARBADOS: South Africa captain Aiden Markram is confident about his team’s future after losing the T20 World Cup 2024 final against India at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday.
The Proteas fell seven wickets short in their chase of 177 as Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya wreaked havoc in the last few overs to seal victory.
Markram did not have a memorable tournament as a batsman as he managed only 123 in nine innings, including a four-run cameo in the final against India.
“Hopefully it’s a step closer,” Markram said after the game. “It’s tournament cricket, it’s tough cricket, it’s not easy to win trophies and you have to take your hat off to a team like India to lift the trophy. It takes hard work.
“But yeah, we’d like to think we’ll be one step closer and we can go on and get our first win and hopefully it snowballs into the future for very few people.”
South Africa won the match after Heinrich Klaasen smashed Axar Patel’s 22 in the 15th over. Markram found it difficult to pinpoint the moment the game slipped away from the Proteas.
“This is a great group of guys. I think they deserve really good things. I had a really good feeling about this race before we got here and that feeling got stronger as the race went on,” he said.
“So, it’s hard to work now, but at the end of the day, it’s a sport. Some will win, others will lose. We will use it to fuel us for the next event.”
It was South Africa’s first appearance in a T20 World Cup final after reaching the semi-finals in 2009 and 2014.
