Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 3 : Ahead of his side's T20 World Cup semifinal clash against New Zealand, South African skipper Aiden Markram spoke on his conscious decision to switch to being an opener in the T20I format, saying that his focus is not on "massive numbers", but trying to win the first six overs of the innings, the powerplay phase.
Unbeaten Proteas will be aiming to make it to their second successive T20 World Cup final, when they take on New Zealand at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Tuesday in the first semifinal. The winner of this clash will meet either India or England. In deciding the match's outcome, Markram would hold a key, being the leading run-getter for SA with 268 runs in seven innings at an average of 53.60, a strike rate of 175.16 and three fifties.
Speaking about the shift in his batting spot and mindset, Markram said during the pre-match presser, "Yeah, it is (decision to open and take on the bowlers during the powerplay being a conscious one). Opening the batting now in T20 cricket, you do not really have a choice. You have to get on with things and take the game to the opposition and try to get the team off to a really strong power play, and that is pretty much what I have just tried to focus on."
"Not thinking massive numbers, not thinking anything besides the fact that I try to win those first six overs. Then, if you are still in from there, keep doing that, of course, keep trying to take the game on, but you can probably be a little bit smart in that period after the power play. So yeah, you take it on sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it reflects and looks quite nice,, and there will be patches where it might not, but I think the approach itself it is been a conscious one to really try to take the game on up front," he added.
Markram has played at number four and five as an anchor for the majority of his T20I career, and in his 23 innings as an opener, he has made 690 runs at an average of 34.50 and a strike rate of over 170 with seven fifties. His strike rate at number four and five for 43 innings was around 138, and has shot up massively as an opener, with the powerplay advantage helping him take the bowlers head on.
On the law of averages, possibly catching up with South Africa in the semifinal, Markram said, "I do not know how it is going to work out tomorrow night. None of us do. But you can look at it through various different lenses. If you want to look at it through that, then I do not think you would be a very clever man. If you are sitting in our changing room, I think you want to look at it from a side where you bring in a lot of confidence into a must-win game and a lot of trust in the plans and the things that we have been doing well. So it is as simple as that for us. We are not trying to do anything different tomorrow. Keep hammering away at the things that we have done well and that have got us here, and if we can execute that well again tomorrow, we stand a chance."
The Proteas captain admits that he does not know what the conditions could be like, and he kept an eye on the India-West Indies clash, which took place at the same venue, to get an idea.
"Briefly, quickly now walked out to the wicket, it looks pretty good again. I think it is the darker soil, so we will just have to - not wing it, but come up with ways out in the middle after having seen a couple of balls, seeing how it's playing and back those plans from there. But from a playing XI point of view, we will wrap it up tonight now that we have seen the wicket and then let the boys know and then obviously after that can let everyone know tomorrow," he added.
Squads:

South Africa Squad: Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Jason Smith

New Zealand Squad: Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy, James Neesham, Kyle Jamieson, Devon Conway.