South African skipper Temba Bavuma expressed his disappointment after the loss against Australia in an ICC T20 World Cup 2021 clash on October 23 at Abu Dhabi.
Asked to bat first, the Temba Bavuma-led side had a poor outing as they were just restricted to just 118 runs in their quota of 20 overs. The Proteas never get going as every Australian bowler chipped in and provided their team with the crucial breakthroughs.
Aiden Markram tried his best and was the lone warrior for his team with his knock of 40 runs but that wasn’t enough as he perished in the 18th over and failed to finish the innings on high for his team.
Chasing the target, the Aaron Finch-led were a bit sloppy with the bat as they lost their top three in quick succession of time. The duo of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell tried hard but failed to take their team home.
Just when the pressure started to mount on Australia, Marcus Stoinis joined hands with Mathew Wade and bailed them out of the trouble to clinch the low scoring thriller by 5 wickets.
South African skipper Temba Bavuma was quick to admit that they displayed a poor batting performance and also lauded his bowlers for taking the match to the last over.
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"We always talk about us being resilient and there was an opportunity. Big effort from the guys to get us to the last over. We just didn't get enough with the bat and it was always going to be tough for the bowlers, and it was a good effort from them to get it to this stage," Temba Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.
Bavuma admitted that Australian bowlers assed the lengths well and bowled exceptionally. He added that things didn’t go according to their plans but they showed great fight.
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“Australia bowled well. They assessed the length well and hit that back of a length. Their spinners too bowled tight. Aiden held the innings and got us to a decent total. As much as it was a day that didn't go to plan, we can take positives. We showed fight. We spoke during the halftime that we won't give up," he said.
Josh Hazelwood for his figures of 2/19 was awarded the Player of the Match. Australia will next take on Sri Lanka on 28th October while South Africa will cross swords against defending champions West Indies on 26th October.
(ANI inputs)
