The break proved to be a blessing in disguise, says Aiden Markram

It won’t be wrong to say that the change in jersey colour brought a change in fortune for the South Africans. After three losses on the trot, they finally had something to cheer as Aiden Markram registered his first win as captain. The hosts clinched a five-wicket win in the 4th ODI. However, one will have to say, that lightning and continued interruptions played a major role in India’s loss.

Taking nothing away from the superlative batting effort by Heinrich Klaasen and the swashbuckler David Miller, it should well be kept in mind that concentration is the key while batting and that was hindered quite a few time when Indians were having a go. Though the weather is beyond anyone’s control, this eventually made a paradigm shift towards the South African unit.

Batting first, the Indian team was looking rock-solid and a score of 320-330 was very much in the mix when the moustache rolling southpaw Shikhar Dhawan and the reliable Virat Kohli were batting. However, in lieu of lightning, the batters lost their concentration and wicket kept on tumbling in quick succession which eventually restricted India for a score of 289.

Markram- Registered first win as captain

Aiden Markram, the South African skipper also agreed to say that the stops played a pivotal part as they registered their first win. Speaking in the post-match presentation, Markram said, “Just relieved to have got over the line today. To put some pressure on the Indians is a good feeling and to win is even better. The break out there was a blessing in disguise to break up their momentum. To restrict them to 290 was a great job from our bowlers. The message before today was not to put pressure on ourselves and it is nice to see boys have bought into the plan.”

He also shared his thoughts on how important it is to have AB de Villiers back in the squad. “It is good to have some experience in our middle-order with AB coming back. We need to keep fighting our way; we aren’t at our best yet and need to keep improving. Would love to take pink into our big tournaments as well (laughs),” the Proteas skipper mentioned.