Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa's cricket team, was devastated when his team lost to New Zealand by 50 runs in the Champions Trophy semifinal. Visit billy777 for more cricket updates. 

The match took place in Lahore, and South Africa had a significant challenge to chase 363 runs to win. They got off to a strong start, scoring 125 runs with only one batter out. 

But then, two critical players, Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen, got out quickly, which made things difficult for the team.

Bavuma's Disappointment

After the match, Bavuma talked about how he was unhappy with how he got out. He dubbed it a "soft dismissal," indicating that losing his wicket was an easy way. 

He aimed to stay longer and support the middle-order players, who bat very well. He believed that their team would have had a better chance of winning if he and van der Dussen had continued batting until the 30th over. But unfortunately, they could not do that.

A Huge Objective

Bavuma acknowledged that it was tough to chase 363 runs. All of their batters had to perform well and form solid alliances to win. 

Another South African player, David Miller, played an outstanding innings and scored 100 runs in just 67 balls. 

He did not, however, receive enough assistance from the other players. Ultimately, South Africa was unable to score more than 312 runs.

NZ Performed Exceptionally

The New Zealand hitters performed admirably. Rachin Ravindra scored 108 runs, and Kane Williamson scored 102 runs. 

Other players like Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell also contributed important runs. Bavuma felt that either he or van der Dussen should have played big innings, just like the New Zealand players did.

Indeed, the goal was highly lofty. We may still have a chance if New Zealand scored fewer than 350 runs. 

However, 360 runs was excessive, Bavuma remarked. "We needed one player to stay until the end and score big runs, even though we had some good partnerships. We needed another player to perform as well as David Miller did."

Praising New Zealand's Batters

Bavuma also praised the way New Zealand batted. He claimed South Africa was under a lot of pressure from their players. "They made it difficult for us to stop them as they continued to strike the ball for boundaries. 

Usually, we are very good at getting wickets in the middle overs, but this time, we couldn't do it. 

A team can score many runs when they have a lot of wickets left in the final overs, and that's precisely what New Zealand did."

New Zealand's captain, Mitchell Santner, was delighted with his team's performance. He specifically applauded Kane Williamson, who played well under pressure. 

"Kane keeps playing amazing innings for us," Santner said. "His partnership with Ravindra was highly crucial. 

There were instances when South Africa put us under pressure, but our batters handled it admirably. Our target was 360, and it was much better than 320, which might not have been enough."

New Zealand vs. India in the Final

New Zealand will play against India in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday. This match will be particularly memorable because both teams participated in this tournament's final 25 years ago. Cricket fans are pretty excited to see who will win this time!

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