Clean slate for Markram as Proteas head to T20 World Cup

Aiden Markram’s memories of South Africa’s painful defeat in the final of the previous T20 World Cup won’t be a source of motivation for him in this year’s edition.

“For me [this year’s tournament] is a clean slate, a new opportunity to start from scratch and to play good cricket initially, to earn the right to go and chase a trophy,” said the Proteas captain.

Markram said the onus is on the individual to determine how they want to treat that disappointment, a match in which South Africa needed 30 off 30 balls, but ultimately came up seven runs short against India in 2024.

“It depends on each guy. Some may have parked it, some may use it as motivation.”

Markram is one of seven players who started that final who travelled to India on Sunday to pursue the Proteas’ latest attempt at annexing an ICC limited-overs tournament title.

Despite losing a chaotic but ultimately exciting 10-over contest to the West Indies at the Wanderers on Saturday night, Markram’s squad has every right to feel confident about their prospects in India.

They start on February 9 against Canada in Ahmedabad before tougher assignments against Afghanistan and New Zealand in the same city, and then a journey to India’s capital Delhi for their final Group D clash against the UAE.

Should they, as expected, finish in the top two in that group, they will qualify for the Super Eights and have already been seeded to appear in the same group as hosts India, Australia and the West Indies.

Despite playing what was effectively half a game, owing to two lengthy stoppages because of lightning, Markram said valuable data emerged from Saturday night’s six-run defeat via the DLS calculation.

“You might face a scenario in a World Cup where you’re on and off the field and [Saturday] night was all over the show,” he said. “But each guy, whatever they were asked to do, felt under immense pressure. For the guys who did well, there’s a lot of confidence they can take.”

Jason Smith was one of those. Questions will continue to be asked about his selection, but he provided a demonstration of what he is good at — smashing 24 off 10 balls in South Africa’s pursuit of a revised target of 125.

“It was big for him. Whatever is being said is being said. It’s on the player and potentially the environment to block that out. He’s a match winner with the bat. We saw glimpses of it in the SA20 where he played some impactful knocks.

“It’s not easy to walk in late in an innings and hit balls out of the park, but he has that potential, which is why he is in our squad. I was pleased he was able to walk in [on Saturday] during a big moment and kept the game alive for us and nearly got us over the line,” said Markram.

In addition to Smith’s big hitting, the power in South Africa’s middle order received an extra boost with confirmation David Miller had passed a fitness test after suffering an abductor strain in the latter stages of the SA20.

“I chatted to him [on Saturday] morning and he seemed like he was in a good frame of mind,” said Markram.

“He is a calm head in that middle order, where we’ve got some inexperience, though proper explosiveness, and you add Dave to that XI and he brings a nice balance.”

The Proteas will play one warm-up match before the tournament against India in Mumbai on Wednesday.