Dane van Niekerk hits out at critics for targeting her on 'free pass to final' remark

Dane van Niekerk, the South Africa Women’s captain, wasn’t happy after her team bowed out of the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup. They lost to hosts Australia in a rain-curtailed game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. After the contest, the 26-year-old said that she doesn’t want a ‘free pass’ to the final. Her comments didn’t go down well with the netizens by any means.

The same is for the reason that she was assumed to have taken a dig at India, who marched into the Final after the abandoned semi-final against England at the SCG itself. However, Van Niekerk said that her comments were being blown out of proportion. She also expressed pride in leading her side.

NO reference was made towards ANY team. If you want to take it out of context and not actually watch the whole interview, be my guest. Still a VERY proud captain of a VERY talented team,” Niekerk wrote in her social media post.

We are here to play cricket, says Dane van Niekerk

Earlier, the Pretoria-born said that she didn’t wish to play the final on the basis of being the table-toppers. She also credited the groundsmen for keeping the field ready for play despite the heavy downpour that took place earlier in the day.

“I am not going to sit and lie and say, ‘You don’t think about it’. I have to give credit to the ground staff; they did absolutely everything to keep us on the park. And we are here to play cricket. I’d rather lose than get a free pass into the World Cup final,” she had said.

In the semis, South Africa restricted the Aussies to 134 for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs. Meg Lanning’s run-a-ball 49 took the home team to the respectable score Thereafter, the heavens opened up and play was halted for quite some time.

South Africa were set with a revised target of 98 in 13 overs at a rate around 7.50. Laura Wolvaardt churned out 41 vital runs off 27 balls at the death, but couldn’t save her team from a defeat by five runs (DLS Method).