‘We’re locked in’: Proteas qualify for T20 World Cup play-offs

Aiden Markram plays a shot for the Proteas during their victory over West Indies in their Super Eight match in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Picture: Shammi Mehra/AFP After coasting into the semifinals of the T20 World Cup, captain Aiden Markram insisted the seemingly minimal effort displayed by the Proteas had been deceptive after they racked up their sixth straight victory of the tournament on Thursday. Having already beaten New Zealand by seven wickets in the group stages, and thumping defending champions India by 76 runs in their first Super Eight match, South Africacruised to a nine-wicket winagainst West Indies in their second Super Eight clash in Ahmedabad.

And though they hadn’t quite taken the next step just yet after their win against West Indies, with India beating Zimbabwe later on Thursday, the Proteas progressed to the knockout stages. They still had a dead rubber Super Eight match to play against Zimbabwe on Sunday, but South Africa were just two wins away from securing the nation’s first limited overs world title. And while their six wins thus far had included three comprehensive victories over some of the title contenders, Markram said theSA team(the only unbeaten side left in the competition) were ensuring they did not get ahead of themselves.

“It doesn’t feel easy, to be honest. In every game and every meeting we have, the boys are fully locked in,” Markram said. “We’ve been on good and bad sides at World Cups, so it’s definitely not something this group would take for granted.” The thought of complacency had not even crept into the squad camp, according to Markram, and the Proteas were keeping their heads down and focusing on the task at hand in an attempt to lift the World Cup trophy.

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“I don’t think it’s even worth mentioning to the group. The guys have a lot of pride and are really on a mission to try achieve something, and you sort of don’t want to create things where there isn’t really anything,” the skipper said. “So if we need to guard against it based on what our eyes tell us, we’ll mention it, but for the time being the guys have been tracking really well.” Markram said the big wins they had earned thus far were tougher than they looked but he was confident his side had the drive and the energy to put in match-winning performances for two more games in the play-offs.

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