A despondent Proteas captain Aiden Markram.
Image: AFP
Two years ago, Aiden Markram was distraught after his team’s defeat in the T20 World Cup final. On Wednesday evening, his jaw was more chiselled, almost stone-faced in disbelief at what had just transpired in Kolkata after yet another T20 World Cup semi-final loss.
The Black Caps blew the Proteas’ house down, romping home by nine wickets with 41 balls to spare and leaving Markram to make sense of how it all went horribly wrong.
"I think you look at conditions early and they bowled really well up front. Ball didn't quite feel like coming on, some were just stopping on the wicket and some were hitting quite low on the bat and they made scoring really tough and through that pressure builds and you lose wickets unfortunately. So, give credit to their bowling unit," Markram said.
But that was only the feeble batting effort. What about the bowlers that were smashed to all parts of Eden Gardens by a rampant Finn Allen (100 not out off 33 balls) and Tim Seifert (58 off 34 balls)?
"Obviously with the bat, someone plays an innings like that, don't think you will come out on the right side of the result many times as a fielding team. To get to 170 was a great effort to be fair,” Markram said.
“At the halfway point we really felt like we had a sniff, but then, as it goes in T20 cricket.. (in) the powerplay (they) got off to a flyer and can't protect every boundary unfortunately, and yeah they got away and then from there it was really hard to pull it back. It was just that bad night for us tonight.”
The defeat was a rude-awakening for the Proteas after they had sauntered through the group and Super Eights phase unbeaten in seven matches, including despatching the Black Caps by seven wickets earlier.
All that came to nought though and has left the Proteas with the empty feeling of another major tour semi-final defeat - they also lost the 2023 World Cup playoff in Kolkata - at Eden Gardens.
“Obviously disappointed with the result, but very proud of this group of guys who have played some really good cricket throughout this comp, and it's just an unfortunate evening really,” Markram said.
“I think you let the emotions settle first and foremost. Once they have, we'll have a discussion as a group and all you do is you break down the game and try and find the areas that could have been better.
“Get back on the horse and you try and improve as a group and as individuals, and hopefully that puts you in good stead for the future. So yeah, again, hugely disappointed. It's a big a slap in the face. But because of that, ultimately, we will have to come out stronger and be better as a team moving forward."