Prior to Saturday’s highly anticipated ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final between South Africa and India at the Kensington Oval, captain Aiden Markram of South Africa offered his opinions on former India captain Virat Kohli’s dismal showing in the competition.

Prior to the match between the tournament’s two undefeated teams, India and South Africa, the Proteas cricket player said that the 36-year-old is a fantastic player and that cricket is an up-and-down sport.

“I don’t believe it concerns me. We all know that he is an excellent player. However, they have excellent players across their whole batting lineup.

In addition, cricket is an unpredictable game. You will not always perform well, particularly if you are a hitter. Therefore, we just plan and prepare for those hitters from a meeting standpoint, and hopefully on game day, we can do it right, “explained Markram during the pre-game news conference.

Following a successful run with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Virat Kohli has been looking to score runs with his bat at this year’s blockbuster tournament. Opening for the Indian squad with captain Rohit Sharma, Kohli seemed to have lost his flow.

With a massive 741 runs at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69, along with a century and five half-centuries, Kohli finished the 2024 Indian Premier League with the Orange Cap.

However, Kohli’s performance in the current T20 World Cup is very different from his IPL stats. Even with his vast experience, Kohli has been unable to put together a consistent run of performances in seven matches. Only 75 runs, with an average of 10.71, have been scored by him throughout the competition.

After hitting the ball into the stand over mid-wicket off Reece Topley, the reliable batsman seemed to be getting back into his swing for a little while.

Kohli tried to scoop the ball towards the boundary, but the English bowler got the final laugh as he forced the bails off the stumps.

Squads:

Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal are representatives of India.

The following players represent South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Tristan Stubbs.