South Africa played the 2nd T20I against India and made a stunning comeback as they defeat Men in Blye by 51 runs at Mullanpur, The Proteas were absolutely dominant and while Quinton de Kock displayed solid batting skills, Baartman on the other side did wonders while bowling he picked 4 wickets by just giving away 24 runs.
In the post-match presentation, Aiden Markram heaped huge praise for his team and also gave special mention to Quinton de Kock who scored magnificent 90 runs.
“Yeah, much better tonight. Obviously we started off with a special knock from Quinny (de Kock) and some really good contributions at the end that got us to a really good total. I thought the bowlers were good in the first game and even better this evening, so they’re definitely trending in the right direction, which is great to see. And naturally, from a fielding point of view, the first two games have gone wonderfully. It (the conditions) was good.”
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The Mullanpur pitch definitely offered support as it is already a very batting-friendly pitch. Quinton de Kock smashed 90 runs off 46 balls, and the other batters like Aiden Markram (29), Donovan Ferreira (30) and David Miller (20) also made their significant contribution. For India, Tilak Varma was the sole-warrior who stood tall and scored a magnificent half-century while the wickets kept falling.
“There was something there for the bowlers when the ball was in the right area, especially when it was new and hard. And if a batter got in, as we saw with Quinny and Tilak, they could put the bowlers under pressure. So a good wicket, nice-sized field, quite fair as well. Great stadium, great support here for India, and a nice game to be part of. Yeah, it’s (selection) never easy. As a player, you want three or four games on the run to build momentum. But it also has to do with how busy our summer looks now, building up towards the World Cup with SA20 and the series.”
Markram mentioned about how South Africa has the World Cup in mind and framing a squad based on that. He opined that once SA20 is completed the players will be absolutely ready for the T20 World Cup in 2026.
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“Making sure we have our best available XI for the World Cup is obviously the number one priority. Some guys are resting, some are rotating to give fair opportunities. Hopefully by the time SA20 is done, everyone has had good game time and we’re ready for the World Cup. I mean you put your hand up to do whatever job the team needs. That role needed to be filled at five. I’ve batted in the middle order in the past few years, and between the three top-order batters, I was probably best suited for that. You’re never bigger than the team, that’s really important. Not just myself, but a lot of the guys live that way, and it’s a good trait to have. Look, we’ll reflect. My knock in the middle, I’d probably like to maximise those balls a bit better. But we’ll reflect and try to find a few percentages here and there. Then make sure we start fresh again tomorrow.”
