Aiden Markram Denies Eyeing Captaincy Role For South Africa

South African opener, Aiden Markram is excited to return to the field as South Africa gears up for their first Test series since the covid-19 virus struck. The Proteas hosts Sri Lanka – who also will play their opening game in the pandemic era – for two matches commencing with a Boxing Day Test in Centurion.

Markram, once touted to be the future captain of South Africa, will find it difficult to make a comeback in the team after being benched in the Test series against England about 12 months ago.

Making the Test debut in 2017, the right-hander was an instant success as he notched four hundreds and three fifties in his first four series. However, Markram’s form fell- he hasn’t scored a fifty since February 2019.

Currently, captaincy is certainly not on my radar: Aiden Markram

After Faf du Plessis stepped down from the captaincy role, Quinton de Kock is forced to be the new all-format leader of South Africa, though the left-hander has made it clear that he doesn’t see himself leading the Test side in long-term.

Markram, who led South Africa to victory in the 2014 ICC Under-19 World Cup, does enjoy the leadership role. However, at the moment, the 26-year-old is focussed only on his batting and has made a comeback in the eleven as his priority.

As quoted by Cricket Pakistan, Aiden Markram said, “In terms of captaincy, it is something I really enjoy doing, but I have not put much focus on that. I am playing for my spot again, so for me to be thinking about the captaincy is certainly not on my radar. I haven’t been good enough over the past 18 months.”

The top-order batsman opined that the lockdown could be a blessing in disguise for him as he got some time off the game to introspect. He feels that since he was constantly playing cricket, but not scoring, the time away from batting might have a positive effect on his mind, and he could be back amongst runs.

“I played a lot of cricket where I was struggling, so I didn’t have time to reflect on things that may be worked in the past and just slow things down. It felt like everything was becoming more and more rushed, and when you are out of form it is a tough place to be. It can be a snowball effect. So that time we had off was great to clear the mind,” he added.

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