South Africa’s Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma says that Aiden Markram’s tactical genius guided South Africa to the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Bavuma is full of praise for the captaincy of his colleague Markram, which has seen the Proteas go into the semi-finals at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
The South Africans are the only side to have won all seven of their matches on their way to the last four. But their progress has been as thrilling as one would expect from a side whose World Cup history is infamously littered with dramatic and emotional exits.
The Proteas will play Afghanistan at Tarouba in southern Trinidad in their semi-final on Wednesday night. India, who are also unbeaten but had one match washed out, take on England at Providence in Guyana on Thursday.
Unbeaten streak and thrilling progress
Only two of South Africa’s seven wins have been in any way comfortable, and Bavuma told SportsBoom.com that Markram’s captaincy has been a key factor in building a unit that has the belief to win in pressure situations over and over.
“Aiden may not have scored the number of runs he would have liked, but his leadership has been phenomenal,” Bavuma told the US sports website.
“His captaincy style really brings the team together and has given them a lot of belief. It’s a collaborative leadership, and you can see the team has that belief, and they are really playing for each other.”
“I think tactically Aiden has also been very good, using all that spin against the West Indies was really crucial. He’s getting the best out of the players, and you can see how much it means for them.”
“KG Rabada has his big celebrations back every time he takes a wicket; it’s not that he hasn’t been celebrating, but now you can really see how much it means to him every time he gets a wicket,” Bavuma said.
South Africa pulled off a nervy, rain-affected chase against the West Indies to reach the semifinals.
The team won with seven wickets down and five balls to spare at North Sound earlier this week. Bavuma said the sense of calm that Markram brings to the field is evident.
It is a trait Proteas coach Rob Walter also highlighted when SportsBoom.com asked him to appraise Markram’s captaincy thus far.
“Aiden is a very understated leader, but the team listens when he speaks, he is massively respected in the changeroom,” Walter said.
“Strategically, I think he has been very strong – defending low scores so often means he has to be good tactically to win because he does not have a lot of margins for error.”
