South Africa played the first ODI against India at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi and lost by 17 runs. But the Proteas put up a strong front despite their top order failing at the very start. The middle order and lower order stood up for the task – Matthew Breetzke (72), Marco Jansen (70) and Corbin Bosch (67) batted exceptionally well.
Despite all the efforts, South Africa could not cross the finish line but their stand-in skipper Aiden Markram praised the team and how the players soaked in all pressure. For India, Virat Kohli performed brilliantly – scoring 135 runs off 120 balls his innings included 11 fours and seven sixes. He stitched a very strong 136-run partnership with Rohit Sharma who also scored 57 off 51 deliveries.
“Yeah, really proud. It’s great to sit in the changeroom and watch guys do their thing. Never losing that belief that we can pull something, a rabbit out of the hat. The boys in the sheds, they were quitely hopeful as the innings progressed. Really good to watch and really proud of that effort from us. I mean, more than, well, the top order failed probably more than anything else.”
Aiden Markram also opened up about the conditions and explained why chasing the target was the best way to wn the game.
“We knew it would swing and then have a bit of a zip off the wicket up front chasing, but it still felt like chasing was the best way to win the game. It’s on the three of us to come up with a solution in the next game. If we can calm the storm and get the team off to a steady start, then we saw what that middle-order can do. (on where the game was lost) Well, there’s small bits and pieces, but the glaringly obvious one, is obviously the top order.”
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“Getting through that swinging ball and then little moments in the field. 50 overs is such a long time and you look back and there’s a couple of moments here and there, maybe an over that only goes for 12 instead of 18. We don’t think much of it out in the middle, but then it comes down to the wire, like I said, you think back and reflect on those moments. But overall, just really proud of the efforts from the boys.”
They got really close and showed a lot of character tonight. (on Jansen and Bosch’s batting) It’s great. Any team would like to bat as deep as possible and that’s exactly what they do for us. They’ve both been batting really well in their recent past and showed it again this evening. It’s pretty clear how we as a team want to take the game on. Match that with a bit of smarts here and there. I think the team from a batting point of view is in a good position.
