Markram hails 'comfortable' cruise to win

South Africa's matches against New Zealand and Afghanistan in Ahmedabad were starkly contrasting. On Saturday, they secured a comfortable seven-wicket victory over New Zealand. On Wednesday, they needed two super overs to scrape past Afghanistan.

"You want to win games like that," said captain Aiden Markram of the Afghanistan match. "It does a lot for the changeroom. But it's a lot more comfortable putting together more technical performances. The aim will always be for it to feel like it felt tonight."

Marco Jansen agreed: "Tonight was a lot better mentally or emotionally. The other day, emotions were quite high. It's nice to see different guys pitching in at different stages."

Markram led from the front with a career-best 86 not out from 44 balls. This followed another career-best from Jansen, who took 4/40 to help restrict New Zealand to 175/7. South Africa chased the target with 17 balls to spare.

"You can't preach to the boys and not do it yourself," Markram said. "We've seen the way T20 cricket is moving. We're getting good pitches, so you need to take it on. I'm starting to understand how I need to do it myself. I need to do it a bit differently, but with the intent to get the team off to a good start."

The victory leaves unbeaten South Africa on the brink of Super Eights qualification. A win over the United Arab Emirates in Delhi on Wednesday would secure their spot.

"It's a smaller ground, and the ball flies a lot further," Jansen said of the Delhi conditions. "From a bowling point of view, it's always tricky. I think the pitch will be good with more bounce. We might play around with field placements and angles. In Delhi, if your angles are wrong, the ball flies everywhere."

For New Zealand, a win would have secured their Super Eights place. They now need to beat Canada in Chennai on Tuesday.

"We'll just keep chipping away like Kiwis do," said Daryl Mitchell.