South Africa have finally made it to a final of an International Cricket Council event.
The Proteas will get their first opportunity to lift a silverware when they take on former champions India in the grand finale of the Twenty20 World Cup at Kensington Oval in Barbados Saturday evening [BST].
Both India and South Africa have been the teams to beat in this edition’s mega event.
The Proteas had to wait 32 long years to play their first ever World Cup final – One Day Internationals and T20s combined.
This time they stormed to the title decider with eight victories on the trot.
South Africa emerged as the first finalist with a dominating win against Afghanistan.
The African nation first bowled Afghanistan out for just 56 runs inside 12 overs and then chased the total down in 53 balls losing one wicket.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram said the side are yielding results for playing as a group for some time and that there is belief that they can compete with the best teams in the world.
“The bits that we're realizing now, it's obviously a really nice feeling, really good feeling. This team's been together for a long time now as a white-ball group, both formats, and it's nice for us to get to a final. We feel and we believe that we can compete with the best in the world and we can win trophies. And it's nice for us to now have that opportunity and make it into a final,” said Proteas skipper Markram to the media in Barbados.
The surface in Barbados is expected to offer more runs compared to other venues this T20 World Cup had.
Located at the western part of Bridgetown in Barbados, the ground’s highest total in this edition was the 201 by Australia against England while 109 was posted by Oman against Namibia in the early part of the competition.
But this does not bother Markram as dealing with the conditions is what they have done throughout their career.
“I think because we've been doing it for most of our careers, you jump from venue to venue where conditions are quite different. So, it's again just adapting to whatever's in front of you and playing the pitch and the game that's in front of you. So, we won't look too much into it. We'll try to find ways to always take wickets with the ball and from a batting point of view try to get to a score that's defendable. So yeah, not looking too much into conditions. Like I've mentioned, both teams have to play on the same wicket. And ultimately, if you can develop some plans and come up with some plans on the day that can give you a good chance to win, then hopefully it works out that way,” said the elegant right-handed batter.
