"Could've won the game" - 'Hurt' Aiden Markram's colossal claim after South Africa's defeat in T20 World Cup final

Under the leadership of Aiden Markram, the South Africa National Cricket Team played the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 against Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team on Saturday, June 29, at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. This was the first time that two unbeaten teams faced off in a T20 World Cup final. 

The Proteas were invited to bowl first in the match and they restricted India to 176/7. Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje bowled brilliant spells in the innings and bagged two wickets each. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen also picked one wicket each.

Chasing the target, South Africa didn't start well but a partnership between Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen brought them back into the game. They looked set to clinch their maiden ICC title after Heinrich Klaasen smashed a quickfire fifty. However, his wicket changed the momentum and South Africa were restricted to 169/8, losing the match by 7 runs.

Speaking after the match, South Africa National Cricket Team captain Aiden Markram said that it hurts to finish on the losing side but added that he was proud of his players. Aiden Markram said:

"Gutted for the time being. It'll take some time for us to have a really good reflection on a really good campaign the group had. Obviously for the time being, like I mentioned, it hurts quite a bit. Having said that, I'm incredibly proud of this group of players and everyone involved with the team. I feel they bowled well."

Aiden Markram added that they restricted India to a gettable total but they couldn't handle the scoreboard pressure. Aiden Markram asserted:

"Don't think there was a whole lot to work with with regards to the pitch. Thought they did well to restrict them to what we thought was a chaseable total. Thought we batted really well as well, and it came down to the wire. Really good game of cricket. We've seen with a lot of our games in this campaign - it's never over till the last ball is bowled. We never got comfortable, there's always an element of scoreboard pressure. And especially at the back end, things happen quite quickly and can turn quite quickly as well."

Aiden Markram further claimed that the way they played they could have won the game but unfortunately they couldn't. Aiden Markram stated:

"Having said that, we got into a great position which proves we're worthy finalists. Could've won the game today. Unfortunately we didn't. Still, like I mentioned, incredibly proud of the group. Hopefully in a really good way (how does this set them up for the future?). One thing guaranteed about a South African wherever they are in the world is they're a really competitive person, really respectful person and a person that'll go down with a fight. Hopefully looking forward we can draw a lot from those few things and keep putting the skill side of the sport to good use. It's still a proud moment for us."

South Africa's Journey In ICC T20 World Cup 2024

South Africa National Cricket Team, just like India, finished the group stage and Super 8 stage unbeaten, heading into the summit clash of the marquee tournament. In the group stage, the Proteas were clubbed along with Bangladesh, Nepal, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka.

The Aiden Markram-led side started off their tournament on a high by beating Sri Lanka comprehensively by 6 wickets and 22 balls remaining on June 3. On June 8, the Proteas were up against the Netherlands, who had troubled them a lot in the two previous editions of the World Cups. South Africa once again played a stressful game against the Dutch, but somehow managed to cross the finish line as they won by 4 wickets and 7 balls remaining.

On June 10, the Aiden Markram-led side once again played a close game against Bangladesh but finished on the winning side by 4 runs. At the last, the Proteas were up against Nepal and they were on the verge of facing a massive upset defeat. But they once again survived and won the game by 1 run.

After qualifying for Super 8s, South Africa were placed in group 2 and they had a tough task in hand as they had to face West Indies, England, and the USA.

In their first match, South Africa comfortably beat the USA by 18 runs on June 19 before pulling off a great win over England by 7 runs on June 21. They next needed to beat West Indies, which they did by 3 wickets and 5 balls remaining, to book a place in the semi-finals.

South Africa's semi-final was against the giant slayers - Afghanistan - and they needed to be at their best to beat the Rashid Khan-led team. The pitch in Tarouba made things easy for the Proteas as it provided too much help to the bowlers and South Africa bowled out Afghanistan for just 56 before chasing down the target with 67 balls remaining and winning by 9 wickets to enter their first-ever World Cup final.