South Africa captain Aiden Markram heaped praise on his team and backed them despite the loss against India in the third T20I of the four-match series at the SuperSport Park on Wednesday. Arshdeep Singh’s three-wicket haul and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten century helped India clinch an 11-run victory over South Africa. The right-hand batter said that the team will “see areas to improve” for the fourth and final encounter of the series which will be played at Johannesburg on Friday.

“Proud of the effort to get that close. Good to see the contributions from the lower order. It was just down to executing what we discussed. This is a ground where you can chase 220. I feel it is almost an over by over thing. If you win those overs you have a great chance. We will see areas to improve for the next game,” Aiden Markram said in the post-match presentation.

Recapping the match, South Africa won the toss and decided to field. Abhishek Sharma (50 runs from 25 balls, 3 fours and 5 sixes) and Tilak Varma (107* runs from 56 balls, 8 fours and 7 sixes) powered India to 219/6 in the first innings. Other batters failed to shine.

Andile Simelane and Keshav Maharaj led the Proteas bowling attack and bagged two wickets each in their respective spell.

During the run chase, Heinrich Klaasen (41 runs from 22 balls, 1 four and 4 sixes) and Marco Jansen (54 runs from 17 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes) kept the Proteas in the game. But with the help of Arshdeep, India prevailed in the end.

Arshdeep did the job both with the new ball and in the death overs as he picked up three crucial wickets and gave 37 runs in his four-over spell. Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets in his four-over spell.

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