President Ramaphosa sends message to Proteas
President Ramaphosa sends message to Proteas
The Proteas will aim to proudly fly the South African flag in Saturday’s T20 World Cup final against India, with President Cyril Ramaphosa having also joined the chorus of good luck messages.
Saturday’s final is set to get under way in Barbados at 16:30 (SA time), with all of South Africa set to unite behind Aiden Markram’s men.
President Ramaphosa has wished the Proteas well
“On behalf of all South Africans, I wish @AidzMarkram and @ProteasMenCSA the very best for your historic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final against England or India in Barbados on Saturday, 29 June,” he posted on X.
“We look forward to seeing your Final tenacity, talent with bat and ball and our beautiful flag on display in the Kensington Oval Stadium. And of course, we’re looking forward to hosting another championship team and trophy at the Union Buildings,” Ramaphosa added in reference to the Springboks’ World Cup welcome last year.
How the two teams got to the final
India have won every game they’ve been able to compete in, with the only dropped points coming from the abandoned fixture against Canada at a rain-soaked Lauderhill.
Impressive wins over Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Australia secured their spot in the knockout stages as the winners of Group 1 in the Super Eight – and they compounded their excellent form with a thumping victory over defending champions England in the semi-final.
South Africa have a perfect record at the tournament, but have been pushed close a number of times across their seven matches, with Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal all going close during the initial group stage, and tournament co-hosts USA doing the same at the start of the Super Eights.
They also won narrow matches against England and West Indies in the second stage – but then handed out a decisive nine-wicket win to Afghanistan in the semi-final.
India seek to reclaim the trophy they last won in the inaugural 2007 edition, while South Africa are into the final for the first time – after seven previous World Cup semi-final defeats in all formats.
The Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs