'It was just that bad night': Aiden Markram's painful admission after New Zealand hammering

Kolkata—South Africa captain Aiden Markram labelled Wednesday’s T20 World Cup semi-final “just that bad night” after New Zealand romped into the final with a nine-wicket demolition at Eden Gardens. Finn Allen’s record-shattering 33-ball century headlined a chase of 170 that was completed in only 12.5 overs, leaving the Proteas to digest their heaviest defeat of the campaign.

Markram conceded the contest slipped away in the opening exchanges. “They bowled really well up front,” he said. “Ball didn’t quite feel like coming on, some were just stopping on the wicket and some were hitting quite low on the bat and they made scoring really tough.” The squeeze yielded regular wickets and South Africa staggered to 77 for 5 before Marco Jansen’s unbeaten 54 off 30 and a spirited stand with Tristan Stubbs hauled them to 169 for 8.

“To get to 170 was a great effort to be fair,” Markram admitted. “At the halfway point we really felt like we had a sniff.” That belief evaporated instantly as Allen and Tim Seifert blazed 92 inside the powerplay. “Can’t protect every boundary unfortunately, and yeah they got away and then from there it was really hard to pull it back,” he said.

The skipper paid tribute to the Kiwi openers for “killing the game as early as they did,” and hinted his side may have misread conditions. “We expected the wicket to play really well. Potentially just adapt a bit quicker with the bats and go back to maybe a bit more old-school approach, set it up and try to scrape your way to 190.”

While the loss ends South Africa’s bid for a maiden T20 world title, Markram backed his squad’s body of work. “Very proud of this group of guys who have played some really good cricket throughout this comp, and it’s just an unfortunate evening really.”