South Africa captain Aiden Markram blamed his batters following their collapse in the first T20I against India. The Proteas, who had restricted India to 175 on the batting-friendly Barabati pitch, failed with the bat themselves and were bowled out for just 74, which is their lowest total in the history of the shortest format of the game.
Markram on South Africa's batting collapse
Markram, who managed to score 14 runs in 14 balls, lauded the team's bowling, how they picked up early wickets to put India in a spot of bother, but the 31-year-old reckons that the side needs to look at their batting in T20Is.
"Yeah, I think there were some good signs. It was a ball-in-the-field. Nice to start the way we did. We put some emphasis on starting well, and that was a box we ticked, so we can be proud of that. From a batting point of view, it’s unfortunately something that can happen in this format. It’s a pity that it had to happen in the first game, but you have to draw a line through it. It’s a quick turnaround and we’ll give it another crack in a couple of days’ time" said Aiden Markram after India's win.
Markram picks South Africa's biggest mistake
Markram pointed out that their biggest mistake was not being able to build partnerships as the side lost wickets in regular intervals.
"But the biggest factor was obviously not being able to build partnerships, settling after losing wickets and getting some momentum on our side. So yeah, we’ll have brief conversations tomorrow. You don’t want to dive too deep into things like this. You almost just want to draw a line through it and stick to the positive ways of this format," Markram also said.
IND vs SA 1st T20I
Coming back to the match, Hardik Pandya, who made his comeback after recovering, smashed an unbeaten half-century and then picked up a key wicket as India etched a dominant 101-run win over South Africa in the first match of the five-match series. With this win, India took a 1-0 lead in the rubber, and it also pushed South Africa to their lowest-ever T20I total. Their previous lowest was also against India, 87 all out in Rajkot in 2022.
Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel grabbed two wickets each, while Pandya fittingly got rid of David Miller. The second T20I between India and South Africa will take place on 11 December at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.