While Aiden Markram promised that South Africa’s close call in the T20 World Cup final will “fire us up” for future competitions, he also acknowledged that it was “gut-wrenching” and “pretty tough to deal with” that they didn’t win their first international trophy despite requiring 30 runs in the final five overs.
After Axar Patel gave away 22 runs in their innings’ fifteenth over, South Africa appeared certain to chase 176 in their first-ever men’s World Cup final in any white-ball format. However, India’s bowlers gave up just one boundary in the last thirty balls, thanks to an outside edge from Kagiso Rabada, to win by seven runs and leave South Africa to wonder what could have been.
When asked to describe his feelings, Markram replied, “To be honest, I don’t think I can explain them yet. It’s difficult. They’re a wonderful group of people. They deserve wonderful things to come their way, in my opinion.
“Before we arrived, I had a really positive feeling about this competition, and as it progressed, that feeling just grew stronger. Even if it’s difficult right now, at the end of the day, it’s just sports; one person will win and one will lose. And we’ll attempt to channel it into fuel for next activities.”
The youngest players selected for the final are Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs, the backbone of South Africa’s team being aged 28 to 34. When the next T20 World Cup takes place in India and Sri Lanka in early 2026, some of them will have moved on, since Quinton de Kock is scheduled to retire soon, but Markram thinks the others will take this loss as motivation.
“It’s a great group of guys that’s been together for quite a long time now,” he stated. “As I stated a few days ago, we are proud of reaching our first final, but we still feel that it is not good enough. You’re not happy with your decision after all. Though it will take some time for us to consider all the positive things we’ve accomplished, for now it just aches a lot.”
Aiden Markram declared himself “proud” with his team’s performance in the tournament, as they won eight of their eight games to advance to the championship: “Looking back, this competition will still feel pretty fantastic. It stings a little bit right now, but that’s a good thing. You leave with a little bit of a fire in your gut for your next visit.”
Additionally, he stated that South Africa has moved “one step closer” to winning a final and that there will be “a snowball effect of quite a few to come” if they do. It’s tough cricket, played in a tournament setting. It’s difficult to win trophies, thus congratulations to India for their successful trophy lift. It requires a lot of laborious effort.
It’s really excruciating. That’s the truth of it. Every player has experienced a unique path leading up to this inaugural final. In the end, you grow rather close to one another and, since you know them to be wonderful people, you want the best for this group.
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“It naturally heightens the emotions when you get that close, especially given the style of the game. Though it’s one of those things, we can use it to our advantage going ahead. I believe that you just let things be for a few days, allowing yourself to feel whatever you want to, and then you truly begin to reflect positively.”
With five overs remaining, Markram returned the favour by singling out Heinrich Klaasen for praise following his innings of 52 off 27 balls that put South Africa in a strong position. “It was unique,” Markram remarked. “He has demonstrated this numerous times all across the world.
Delivering it on this platform requires a very unique effort. It will be difficult for him, but looking back, there will be many positive things to be grateful for, and I’m sure that knock would have made it extremely difficult to give such a performance.”
India
