South Africa vs United Arab Emirates, 34th Match, Group D, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026

Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: "Yeah, that's what it was about. It was great to see the boys that came in and that have been working hard for an opportunity to grab that opportunity with both hands. I thought the bowling unit once again was really good in executing plans on that wicket. And, yeah, a lot of confidence for us as a group to know that each guy in the 15 is in a good space. (on the conditions here) It is slightly different. Today obviously with the rain and interesting weather around, it played a bit different. It was a little bit tacky up front, but I suppose it was a morning game. Different to Ahmedabad, probably a little bit less bounce, but yeah, it's good to get a run out in conditions like this, knowing that we're coming back here and I'm sure the boys will sort of realise what worked, things to stay away from and keep that in the back of our minds for when we come back. (on the dropped catches) Massively yeah. We let ourselves down in the field today, not up to the mark at all. The coach will have his say, which is needed. You don't want to create anything mentally by not being switched on and I thought in the field we probably, not probably, we definitely let ourselves down from an attitude and approach point of view. So nice little lesson for us to learn there and I've got no doubt the boys will be up for it again in Ahmedabad. (on the Super 8s) I think fortunately we've got a little bit of time before that first Super 8 game, which is obviously a great thing for the boys to be able to switch off for a little bit and then regroup. Going back to Ahmedabad as well, we spent a bit of time there now in this comp, so it won't feel too foreign to us. It's about really just zoning in on the things that we found worked there and our strengths as a unit and backing that to the hilt and looking forward to that first game."

Muhammad Waseem | UAE captain: "Yeah, it's a tough outing for us as a batting team. I think we need to bat well, especially from the 6th to 16th over, that middle part of the inning, we have to bat well. (on how can you improve) Yeah, to be honest, right now we are in the learning process. So we are learning so many things from these tournaments and from the seniors [senior] players. So I think we need a little bit step up in the batting team in the middle overs and as a bowling team in the last overs. (what can you take from this tournament?) Yeah, to be honest, boys played excellent cricket all through the tournament. I'm very happy with the performance of Sohaib, Aryan Sharma, Alishan and I think in the upcoming tournament, one or two guys more will rise their hand for the performance. (on the crowd support) Yeah, thank you so much for the crowd. They are supporting us and I can say only they are, I think they are upset from the result, but thank you so much for the support."

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