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Former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis praised the Aiden Markram-led side for their remarkable journey in the T20 World Cup 2024, highlighting it as a fantastic month for the Proteas. Kallis noted that while it would have been ideal to clinch the title, South Africa’s overall performance was impressive.
The South African national cricket team showcased dominance throughout the T20 World Cup 2024, emerging as strong contenders from the outset. Under Aiden Markram’s leadership, they excelled with both bat and ball, remaining undefeated until the final match.
Their standout moment came in the semi-final against Afghanistan, where they restricted their opponents to under 60 runs to secure a spot in the final. Despite a strong performance against India in the summit clash, South Africa fell short in the chase, losing by a narrow margin of 7 runs.
Reflecting on South Africa’s campaign, Kallis acknowledged the disappointment of not sealing the victory against India, stating that in most scenarios, they would have emerged victorious. In an interview with Sports Tak, Kallis emphasized the historic achievement of reaching the final and the lessons learned from the experience.
“Yeah, that’s been a good month and a bad month, as you say. It would have been nice to have won that World Cup, but I think the guys have excelled, you know, certainly gone further than any other South African team. So yeah, I think they’ve done well and can be proud of their performance”
“I think South Africa will probably look back at it and say it’s one that they lost. Having been in that position, he probably win that 19 times out of 20. And unfortunately, it was just one of those days where it was one of those games where you lose it.”
That’s a thing in tournaments like that, you need little things like that to go your way – Jacques Kallis on Suryakumar Yadav’s catch
Jacques Kallis also highlighted the significance of Suryakumar Yadav’s catch to dismiss David Miller during the crucial over, emphasizing that such moments are crucial for winning tournaments. He mentioned that the small details didn’t favor the Proteas on that occasion.
“That’s a thing in tournaments like that, you need little things like that to go your way. You need lots of stars to align to win a tournament like that. But as I said, I think South Africa’s done well to get that final and anything can happen on the day and you just need little things to go your way, which unfortunately, those small things didn’t,” he concluded.
