Markram proud of Proteas despite ‘gut-wrenching’ defeat

After falling narrowly short, Proteas captain Aiden Markram admitted their seven-run defeat to India in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Saturday night had been ‘gut-wrenching’ for his team.

Having progressed to their first World Cup final, however, after winning their previous eight matches on the trot, Markram said he was equally proud of his squad’s achievements at the tournament.

‘It hurts a lot’

“I had a really good feeling about this competition before we came here, and as the competition went on, that feeling got stronger and stronger,” Markram said after the game.

“So it’s pretty tough to deal with now, but it’s a sport at the end of the day. Someone’s going to win, someone’s going to lose, and we’ll try to use it to fire us up for future events.

“This is a great group of guys that’s been together for quite a long time now, and getting to our first final is something we can be proud of,” he added.

“Still, in our eyes, it’s not good enough. You’re not satisfied with making a final, and I think it’ll take a bit of time for us to reflect back on all the good things that we’ve done, but obviously for the time being, it just hurts a lot.”

No turning point

Batting first in the final, India reached 176/7, and the Proteas were restricted to 169/8.

The SA team delivered a solid all-round performance, and Markram said he couldn’t pinpoint any specific instance during the game where they lost the hard-fought encounter.

“It’s not a specific moment. It’s an overall game of 40 overs, and you can look at a couple of moments potentially where you could have done better, but all in all I’m still proud of the performance we put together today in a final,” the skipper said.

Looking ahead

Having made history at the showpiece, Markram felt the Proteas had taken a big step forward for South African cricket.

Looking ahead, he believed the current group of players had proved they could win trophies, and they were confident of doing so over the next few years.

“We’d like to think we’re one step closer, and hopefully moving forward we can get that first win and it can be a snowball effect of quite a few to come.”