Markram mentality: Captain cool ahead of T20 World Cup final

There’s almost Catch-22 to the 2024 South Africa squad. Markram’s calm rubs off on the other 14 players in the squad, though Markram would likely argue that it’s the squad’s vibe that bounces back as a reflection of him. Accessible to those on the outside, though uncluttered by external noise, the group embody a spirit few others have had at the tournament.

And it’s not as if this spirit hasn’t been tested. While unbeaten the side had to negotiate a tough New York wicket, brushing aside Sri Lanka before tight wins over Bangladesh and the Netherlands, before seeing off a late Nepal pounce in Saint Vincent. USA’s challenge in Antigua was quelled by Kagiso Rabada’s death-over charge, before close wins against England and the West Indies.

The side have travelled almost the entire length of tournament venues from the north of the USA down to Trinidad (only a trip to Guyana would have been longer), and as Markram and the batting unit have been forced to negotiate tough batting conditions for a large part of the tournament, he paid tribute to the bowling group for stepping up and over-delivering

“This team’s been together for a long time now as a white-ball group, both formats, and it’s nice for us to get to a final,” Markram said.

“We feel and we believe that we can compete with the best in the world and we can win trophies. And it’s nice for us to now have that opportunity and make it into a final.

“The bowlers, not just today, but the whole competition, they’ve been really good. Probably saving the batters on certain occasions, but conditions I would say have been in their favour.

“But even when you say that, they still have to get it done right and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing for us game in and game out, so you have to give a lot of appreciation towards them.”