New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS) South Africa captain Aiden Markram praised his bowlers after their six-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates in the T20 World Cup, saying the attack executed its plans well on a tricky pitch.
Under overcast skies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, SA restricted UAE to 122/6 before completing the chase in 13.2 overs.
“That’s what it was about. It was great to see the boys that came in and that have been working hard for an opportunity to grab that opportunity with both hands. I thought the bowling unit once again was really good in executing plans on that wicket. A lot of confidence for us as a group to know that each guy in the 15 is in a good space.
“It (here in New Delhi) is slightly different. Today, obviously, with the rain and interesting weather around, it played a bit different. It was a little bit tacky up front, but I suppose it was a morning game. Different to Ahmedabad, probably a little bit less bounce, but it’s good to get a run out in conditions like this, knowing that we’re coming back here and I’m sure the boys will sort of realise what worked, things to stay away from and keep that in the back of our minds for when we come back,” Markram said after the match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Markram admitted the side’s fielding, where they dropped four catches, was below par but said the team would learn from the lapses. “We let ourselves down in the field today, not up to the mark at all. The coach will have his say, which is needed.
“You don’t want to create anything mentally by not being switched on and I thought in the field we probably, not probably, we definitely let ourselves down from an attitude and approach point of view. So nice little lesson for us to learn there and I’ve got no doubt the boys will be up for it again in Ahmedabad,” he added.
Asked on entering the Super Eights as an unbeaten team, Markram said, “I think fortunately we’ve got a little bit of time before that first Super 8 game, which is obviously a great thing for the boys to be able to switch off for a little bit and then regroup.
“Going back to Ahmedabad as well, we spent a bit of time there now in this comp, so it won’t feel too foreign to us. It’s about really just zoning in on the things that we found worked there and our strengths as a unit and backing that to the hilt and looking forward to that first game.”
Player of the Match Corbin Bosch, who took 3-12, said he kept things simple. “That was pretty basic today to keep it nice and simple. The wicket set for itself what we had to do. There was some nip early on and we communicated fantastically as bowlers, so it made my life easy.
“I’ve got great guys in front of me that I can learn from, and it just gives me a bit of time to watch what the batters are doing and how our bowlers are bowling so I can formulate plans through doing that. It’s definitely a bit nervy, especially that first couple, but once you get the first few down, it calms down nicely.
“As I think, I think we had a good outing yesterday at training, so it got a good idea of more or less what the wicket would do and then I think with a bit of rain this morning, it just helped the wicket a little bit for us, so definitely helped our seamers.
“I kept it more basic than I normally would, and I think it helps having Aiden as a captain. He keeps me nice and calm and just tells me to execute my best ball at any given stage, so it’s nice to bounce ideas off him, but today I kept it pretty simple. It’s amazing (to get 100 T20 wickets). I can’t believe I got a 100, but it’s fantastic, and I’m proud of myself, but there’s plenty more to do.”
UAE captain Muhammad Waseem acknowledged his side struggled in the middle overs with the bat. “It’s a tough outing for us as a batting team. We need to bat well, especially from the 6th to 16th over, that middle part of the inning, we have to bat well. To be honest, right now we are in the learning process.
“So we are learning so many things from these tournaments and from the senior players. We need a little bit step up in the batting team in the middle overs and as a bowling team in the last overs.
Asked about his takeaways from the tournament, Waseem said, “To be honest, the boys played excellent cricket all through the tournament. I’m very happy with the performance of Sohaib, Aryansh Sharma, Alishan and in the upcoming tournament, one or two more guys will raise their hands for the performance. Thank you so much for the crowd. They are supporting us and I can say only they are, I think they are upset from the result, but thank you so much for the support,” he added.
–IANS
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