After breaking India’s winning streak at T20 World Cups, which had stretched back 12 matches to their opening fixture of the 2024 tournament, South Africa have proved the defending champions are “beatable”. Still, South Africa aren’t getting too carried away.
On a winning run of five matches at this tournament themselves, South Africa could consider having one foot in the semi-finals after winning their first Super Eight match against the toughest opposition in their group. But they’re not allowing themselves to get that far ahead. What they’ve learnt so far is that even the team considered the favourites can slip up, which means anyone can, and they have to stay focused as they get deeper in the competition.
“They are beatable,” David Miller, South Africa’s most experienced batter and top-scorer, said at the post-match press conference. “India come with an incredible team. For us, in a tournament like this, it’s about making sure that we do simple things and get the job done. We’re a mature team. A lot of guys have played together and played and that goes a long way under pressure. It’s just staying in your lane, making sure that you get the job done and keep wanting more.”
The “more” that South Africa wants doesn’t need much explaining. Obviously, it’s a major white-ball trophy. It will be even more desirable a target after they fell short of winning it in the last final. They have backed their recent quality up, albeit in a different format, by winning the World Test Championship mace at Lord’s last year.
The mace win, against Australia, proved that they could come back from situations where they are all but out of the contest, and finish on top. The more they’ve won tense matches, the more they’ve begun to believe that in white-ball cricket as well. The double Super Over victory over Afghanistan was another example of this.
The tension of that win, compared with the ease with which they got past New Zealand, and now India, may make you think things are getting less pressured as the tournament goes on. Not so, said Miller. “It wasn’t easy. Playing against India is always really difficult. We’ve played a lot against them and with them as well, but beyond that – and when it’s two big teams like that – it’s about making sure that you do the simple things for a longer period of time. When the pressure does come, you kind of absorb it, get through that. It takes a team effort.”
While South Africa’s total of 187 was “fair,” as Miller put it, they were actually “pushing for 200,” and fell short but made up for it with their bowling. “Getting three wickets in the Powerplay got us back phenomenally well, and we backed it up with good fielding. It was an all-around great performance. We put them under pressure and, yeah, it was good to get a win over this.”
He singled out Lungi Ngidi’s execution of the slower ball and Keshav Maharaj’s three wickets in an over, all caught by Tristan Stubbs at long-on as game-changing. “The guys executed really, really well. They changed up quite a lot with Lungi Ngidi coming in and bowling a lot of slow balls. In the lineup that was really dangerous, and that hit a lot of sixes and a lot of boundaries, it’s just accepting the fact that they’re really good and making sure that you kind of put that aside and come up with plans that might be different,” Miller said. “And Keshav Maharaj, he’s an experienced player, he’s bowled a lot of overs in his life in pressure situations. The guys bowled phenomenally well.”
South Africa’s next match is against West Indies on Thursday, at the same venue.
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