Despite being effectively positioned on the log within the opening spherical, Proteas stand-in captain Aiden Markram insists they’re not but specializing in the Cricket World Cup playoffs, as they put together for his or her subsequent match in opposition to Pakistan on Thursday.
After thumping Bangladesh by 149 runs on Tuesday, the SA staff climbed to second place within the round-robin standings, simply two factors behind unbeaten hosts India with 4 wins from their 5 matches so far.
With 4 video games nonetheless to play within the opening spherical, nevertheless, Markram mentioned they had been not getting ahead of themselves.
“I don’t think you want to start trying to do maths this far out,” mentioned Markram, who changed Temba Bavuma as skipper for his or her final two matches with the common skipper unavailable as a result of sickness.
“There’s nonetheless 4 video games of cricket and that’s probably eight factors up for grabs. That’s what we’re going to attempt to push for.
“I feel if you happen to begin sitting and hoping for a consequence from this staff and attempting to work out ‘we maybe only need two wins left’ or no matter it’s, I don’t suppose that’s an incredible place to be as a unit.
“So I’m sure we’ll stay far away from that and focus on the very next game and try to back up performances that we’ve put in so far.”
Frustrated on the dying
Chasing 383 runs to win, Bangladesh had been left reeling at 81/6, however veteran middle-order batter Mahmudullah made 111 to hold them to a complete of 233.
With Quinton de Kock smashing 174 runs to take the sport away from their opponents, the consequence was by no means actually unsure, however Markram admitted their bowling assault had been pissed off on the dying.
He nonetheless felt they may take positives out of the sport as they geared as much as face fellow title contenders Pakistan in Chennai.
“I think it was good for us to be able to tap into death plans to a batter that was in and putting us under a bit of pressure,” Markram mentioned.
“So I feel there was quite a bit of worth in that for us, after which naturally to maintain taking wickets from the opposite finish can also be good for the bowling unit.
“So sometimes you can get a bit frustrated in the field but I think the game comes to an end and you sit back and you realise the good value that was out there in what happened for us.”
