Job done. But the real test awaits as Proteas shake off opening-day jitters in Ahmedabad<\/p>\n
There is a specific kind of tension that accompanies the Proteas\u2019 World Cup opener. It\u2019s a mixture of high expectations and the recurring nightmare of a \u201cslip-up\u201d against a minnow. On Monday night, under the blinding lights of the Narendra Modi Stadium, Aiden Markram\u2019s men didn\u2019t just avoid the ghost; they ignored it entirely.<\/p>\n
In what could charitably be described as a \u201cclinical\u201d performance \u2014 and less charitably as \u201cboring\u201d\u2014 South Africa swatted away Canada by 57 runs. But for a team that has won only four of its last nine tournament openers, a drama-free Monday was a luxury.<\/p>\n
In a match defined by clinical efficiency, South Africa asserted their dominance early, posting a tournament-high 213\/4after being sent in to bat. The innings was anchored by captain Markram, whose authoritative 59 off 32 balls set a blistering tone, though the Proteas briefly stuttered against the crafty spin of local-born Ansh Patel, who claimed 3\/31.<\/p>\n
The momentum shifted back decisively during a late-innings assault by David Miller and Tristan Stubbs, who combined for a bruising, unbeaten 75-run partnership off just 37 deliveries.<\/p>\n
The architect of the Canadian collapse was Lungi Ngidi. Fresh off a prolific stint in India, Ngidi proved he is no longer just a support act for the returning Kagiso Rabada. Finishing with figures of 4\/31, he dismantled the Canadian top order with a \u201cfirst-ball\u201d statement, removing captain Dilpreet Bajwa for a golden duck.<\/p>\n
For Ngidi, the performance validated his aggressive philosophy. In a format where bowlers often play \u201ccontainment\u201d cricket, he is happy to gamble.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m willing to take those risks to take wickets,\u201d Ngidi said after collecting his Player of the Match award. \u201cYeah, sometimes they go for boundaries but bowling those risky balls sometimes pays off. That\u2019s pretty much how I play the T20 game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aggression was necessary because, as Ngidi admitted, the Proteas were flying blind. Facing a Canadian unit they had never encountered, the bowling plans had to be drafted on the fly. \u201cIt was trial and error as we were going,\u201d Ngidi explained. \u201cUp front, it was simple with the new ball but further on, it was trial and error all the way to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ngidi provided the fire, captain Markram provided the foundation. His half-century silenced any lingering questions about his form but his post-match comments suggest he isn\u2019t taking the \u201cJob Done\u201d headline literally.<\/p>\n
Markram was particularly pleased with how his middle order handled the \u201cgardening\u201d\u2014the gritty work required before Miller and Stubbs launched their late-innings assault.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really important phase of the game here in India,\u201d Markram noted. \u201cThey had to do a bit of rebuilding before teeing off and they did that well. It\u2019s great for their confidence and hopefully they can take that momentum into the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contest effectively ended as a competition during that opening Powerplay, ensuring Canada never recovered from a wobble that saw them reduced to 26\/3. Despite a spirited 64 from Navneet Dhaliwal, the victory was never in doubt.<\/p>\n
However, Markram is under no illusions about the jump in quality ahead. On Wednesday, the Proteas face an Afghanistan side that were semi-finalists two years ago and are desperate for blood after a loss to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen how anyone can beat anyone. You don\u2019t take any opposition lightly,\u201d Markram warned. \u201cAfghanistan were semi-finalists in the last edition and it\u2019s a day game as well. We\u2019ll have to be on it.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Job done. But the real test awaits as Proteas shake off opening-day jitters in Ahmedabad There is a specific kind of tension that accompanies the Proteas\u2019 World Cup opener. It\u2019s a mixture of high expectations and the recurring nightmare of a \u201cslip-up\u201d against a minnow. On Monday night, under the blinding lights of the Narendra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_25071586472533619_109551237394069":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[602],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-newsroom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23413,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082\/revisions\/23413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}