“I’ve tried my best to forget about it” – Tristan Stubbs on South Africa’s heartbreaking defeat in T20 World Cup 2024 final

South African batter Tristan Stubbs said he tries his best to forget about the painful defeat in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against India at Barbados.  The Proteas lost the summit clash against India by seven runs.

In fact, the Rainbow Nation was in a shoo-in position as they needed a run-a-ball 30 to win their maiden World Cup title but veered off the track in the last five overs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. 

The Aiden Markram-led team also had six wickets in hand but the match turned on its head after a well-settled Heinrich Klaasen was dismissed by Hardik Pandya and David Miller was taken brilliantly by Suryakumar Yadav.

Meanwhile, Stubbs scored 31 runs off 21 balls but he was bowled by Axar Patel when he was taking the game away from India.

Tristan Stubbs said ahead of the first T20I against the West Indies as quoted by iol.com.za, “The World Cup final will come up when you don’t want it to. I’ve tried my best to forget about it. It wasn’t easy, and it still is not easy getting asked about it. Coming back to the Caribbean, you get reminded about it. But fortunately, we are playing where we won the semi-final, so there’s a bit of good vibes there. I think the whole World Cup was a good experience for myself and the team. We found ways to win, which I think is an underrated skill, just being able to win ugly. I think as a team, we can take a lot from that; it gives us a lot of character.”

Stubbs reckons it is crucial to be mentally strong in order to get the desired results at the top level. 

“I think I’m just a bit older. When I started, I think I played about 20 or so domestic games, and I didn’t know my game. I think the biggest thing for me has been the mental side. Every game I played in the IPL, SA20 my mind was going crazy. But now I have adopted a mindset of enjoying what I’m doing. I’m a bit older and I’ve played a bit more cricket than when I first started,” he said in the same interaction.

The first T20I between South Africa and the West Indies will be played at the Brian Lara Stadium on Friday night.