“Tough competition”: Proteas skipper Aiden Markram after his side’s nail-biter victory against Afghanistan

Ahmedabad : South Africa skipper Aiden Markram called the double-Super Over win over Afghanistan a “tough, pressure-competition” game and said he’s grateful for the points.
Markram praised the top order for a solid start and said that grinding out tight matches is a positive sign for the team.
Proteas defeated Afghanistan in the second Super Over thriller during match 13 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
“It’s quite hard to sum that all up. Tough competition – teams put you under immense pressure. And when you start putting yourselves under pressure, life gets hard. Grateful for the win and the points. Ultimately, in Super Overs, you’re picking your most confident guys. Tough being a spinner. Still backed him (Keshav Maharaj). I said to the boys, it’s a decent target, but we’re going to scrap. Wasn’t 100 per cent comfortable with it, thought we left a few out there. There are areas we can improve. Small little phases, and it adds up to a lot in this format. That is the positive you take from a game like this, you need to win games like this. Important to get a really good start in this format, and that’s exactly what they did for us. Two of them batted really nicely, taking the game on,” Markram said after the match.
After the match tied with the score of 187 runs from both sides, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmatullah Gurbaz came to bat for Afghanistan as they managed to extract 17 runs in the first Super Over against the bowling of Lungi Ngidi.
Fazalhaq Farooqi came to bowl for Afghanistan while defending 17 runs in the Super Over. He bowled well and got the wicket of Dewald Brevis, but Tristan Stubbs hit two boundaries, including a six on the last delivery, to force another Super Over.
Stubbs and Miller batted for South Africa again, and Afghanistan gave the ball to Omarzai. Stubbs welcomed him with a six. Miller hit a couple more sixes to end the over with 23 runs.
Mohammad Nabi came to bat with Omarzai while chasing a challenging target of 24 runs. South Africa introduced spin in the Super Over and gave the ball to Keshav Maharaj. He started with a dot ball, then got the wicket of Nabi. Rahmanullah Gurbaz came to bat after that and hit back to back three sixes. With one more six needed on the final delivery, Gurbaz holed out at the point as Afghanistan lost the well-fought match.