Durban, Jan 9: Johan Botha, South Africa captain for the limited overs’ part of India’s campaign to that country, believed that his side were in with a chance of winning the T20 match against India so long as Morne van Wyk was out there in the middle. Botha also praised Makhaya Ntini, saying the fast-bowler has been an inspiration to many in South Africa.

Excerpts from an interview:

Good contest Johan, 20 runs too many:

I think India got off to a really good start with Virat. They were in the front and we struggled to pull them back but you know we could have bowled with the new ball probably a bit better you know, you could see the length on TV. But I thought the guys played really well

After the performance of Morne van Wyk, after he got going, you had every chance of winning this contest:

Definitely, van Wyk was doing pretty well. We thought we had a chance .We were ahead, we were ahead of the rate actually but still the rate got too high, too difficult to get done.

When did you think you actually lost the game because you lost too many wickets in that middle period didn’t you?

Definitely and for guys coming in it was difficult to stay with the right delivery. We kept falling more and more behind. We can’t expect numbers 8, 9, 10, 11 to get runs at 10-an-over then.

Great occasion, this great atmosphere:

Awesome atmosphere. It was great to be out there on the field and hope that I can do it again one day.

Few tears when Makhaya finished his spell:

Definitely. He’s been a legend. When we were young we watched Makhaya play and he’s been an inspiration to not only us cricketers but to everyone in South Africa.