"Lot of relief to get through to semifinal": SA skipper Aiden Markram following T20 WC Super 8 clash

After securing their berth for the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram expressed his feelings on reaching to the next stage of the marquee event on Monday.

After securing their berth for the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram expressed his feelings on reaching to the next stage of the marquee event on Monday. In a fine show of nerves and calm, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada defied heroic spells by Roston Chase and Alzarri Joseph to extend their unbeaten run in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup to seven matches and reaching the semifinals with a three-wicket win over West Indies at Antigua on Monday.

With this victory, South Africa has ended their Super Eights campaign undefeated, with three wins in three matches. England is the other team to move to the semifinals, with two wins and a loss in three matches. West Indies, the hosts of the competition, have been knocked out, with just a win and two losses to their name in the Super Eights. The right-hand batter asserted that the Proteas bowlers assessed the condition and bowled really well to keep them to a sub-par total.

"A lot of relief to get through to the semifinal. We would have liked it to be a lot more convincing. The wicket was playing nicely after the rain break but we tried to kill the game too early. It put us in a tricky position but happy to get over the line. We bowled really well, assessed conditions and kept them to a sub-par total. We could have built a partnership after the break and then taken it from there, we will take that learning and hopefully not make the same mistake again," Markram said in the post-match presentation. The right-arm off-spinner further lauded his team and said that they are doing really well, bowlers are firing and batting is also going alright for them

"We picked Shamsi to have a mystery spinner against them and immediately saw it spinning, so we wanted to bowl as much spin as we could. If it wouldn't spin that much then we would have used our pacers, not a lot of times when KG bowls only 2 overs. We have been doing really well, the bowling unit is firing and as a batting unit, it is about when to take the game on. We need to be smart in those situations. I haven't been following but whoever it might be we have to put our best foot forward," the 29-year-old added. Coming to the match, South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. West Indies was reduced to 5/2, but an 81-run stand between Kyle Mayers (35 in 34 balls with three fours and two sixes) and Roston Chase (52 in 42 balls, with three fours and two sixes) brought them back in the game. However, Proteas bowlers kept striking at regular intervals after this partnership, restricting WI to 135/8 in their 20 overs.

Tabraiz Shamsi (3/27) was the pick of the bowlers for SA. Marco Jansen, skipper Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada got a wicket each. In the run-chase of 136 runs, SA lost two wickets early. Due to interruption of action by rain, Proteas were given a new target of 123 runs in 17 overs. At one point, the match was 50-50, with SA at 110/7 in 15.2 overs, despite crucial knocks from Tristan Stubbs (29 in 27 balls, with four boundaries) and Heinrich Klaasen (22 in 10 balls, with three fours and a six). However, Jansen (21*) and Rabada (5*) found boundaries at crucial stages, finishing the chase with five balls and three wickets in hand.

Chase (3/12) was the pick of the bowlers for WI. Alzarri Joseph and Andre Russell also got two wickets. With this victory, South Africa has ended their Super Eights campaign undefeated, with three wins in three matches. England is the other team to move to the semifinals, with two wins and a loss in three matches. West Indies, the hosts of the competition, have been knocked out, with just a win and two losses to their name in the Super Eights. (ANI)

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