In any ICC tournament, South Africa comes with a strong side and puts itself in the front seat of earning a title. Even in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America, the proteas, under the leadership of Aiden Markram, have a chance to surprise the world, and perhaps themselves too.
In the lead-up to the world event, South Africa is coming on the back of a 3-0 series defeat against the hosts West Indies, where the team was missing some of their key players, due to the recently finished IPL 2024.
Aiden Markram spent much of his time under the sheds, playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the last two-months in the IPL. But coming into the T20 World Cup, he will shoulder his team’s middle order responsibilities, along with the other brutal players of the team.
‘We are certainly here to lift the trophy’ – Aiden Markram
South Africa had a great chance in the last 20-over tournament during the 2022-season in Australia. After a washout against Zimbabwe in their competition opener in Hobart, the Proteas made a great start in the competition with two back-to-back wins.
One of those came against Bangladesh by a huge 104-run margin in Sydney, while their fast bowlers used the pace and bouncy conditions of Perth to hand India a five-wicket defeat. But the way they lost to Netherlands by 13-runs broke their heart and ended their campaign.
But the SA captain Aiden Markram is confident of his team to end the luckless end in the ICC tournaments. Their first game in New York, which recently hosted its first match (a warm-up) between Indian and Bangladesh saw the former defeating the latter by 60-runs, where the seamers made the most off the track with seven wickets.
This has actually put the Proteas under the selection issues after they brought three spinners with them, but could look to adjust the situation and team combination on the pitch condition.
‘On the day we will have to assess really quickly and then adapt plans that will help us do well. It is an exciting day; we didn’t think we would ever be playing a World Cup game in New York. It’s a beautiful training facility and we will get a first look at the stadium and the pitch later to assess things,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram expressed to the reporters on Sunday.
Most of the games in the competition will begin early at around 10:30 am in the morning, which is quite unusual to the context in the shortest format of the game, and the conditions are expected to favor the bowlers a little bit.
‘We are used to mostly playing in the evenings, but we have had a routine since we got here to wake up early and do things together as a team early in the mornings. By now, we are used to it,” 29-year-old accepted on how the team will look to adapt the conditions.
Markram had a terrible tournament in the 20-overs in the last season, where he could notch up only 99 runs in five innings at an average of 24.75 and a strike rate of 125.31 with a best score of 52.
Also Read: Aiden Markram To Captain As South Africa Squad For T20 World Cup 2024 Announced
The right-handed batter has also mentioned the disappointments of the 50-over and 20-over competition, but he believes that even though they are not leading contenders of the season, Markram trusts that his team could compete with any team.
‘I am feeling quietly confident. There are really good teams here but we feel if we find our form and play to the best of our ability, we can beat anyone. We have put a lot of focus on ourselves and we will see where it gets us. But we are certainly here to lift the trophy,” Aiden Markram concluded.
South Africa will begin their campaign against Sri Lanka on June 03, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, in New York.