SA vs IND, 2018: I don’t think appointing Markram as skipper was the right decision - Graeme Smith
Updated - 20 Feb 2018, 04:36 PM
Former South African captain Graeme Smith was himself appointed as the captain at the age of 22. He feels that naming Aiden Markram as the skipper was not the right decision.
The promising Markram was appointed as the Proteas stand-in captain after the first One-day International. It came after regular skipper Faf Du Plessis was ruled out of the remainder of the series due to a finger injury.
Markram was handed over a massive responsibility after playing just two ODI’s for the senior side.
The selectors appointed Markram as the captain despite having Hashim Amla in the side who has led the team earlier.
Markram made his ODI debut against Bangladesh and played his second ODI against India. He had failed in both the matches and was trying to establish himself in the ODI setup.
The added pressure of captaincy added more miseries for the right-handed batsman Markram. He got starts on numerous occasions, but couldn’t convert them into big match-winning innings.
Graeme Smith, on the other hand, was appointed the captain after South Africa’s early exit from the 2003 World Cup. He is one of South Africa’s most successful captain.
South Africa lost the series 5-1 and Markram could only manage to score 127 runs in six innings. Smith hopes that this failure does not affect Markram’s confidence.
Smith said, “I don’t think it was the right decision. Everyone has been talking about his leadership. Probably coming from me that doesn’t make sense because I got given the job at a very young age. I think it was an interim thing, not a full-time thing. I would have rather have had him find his place, find his feet within the one-day set-up, try and get runs behind him. South Africa need players to step up and perform.”
“I think in the short term, with AB coming in after three games he could have stepped in, and they could have looked at Duminy or Amla in the first couple and allowed someone like Markram just to settle. One, he was batting out of position at No. 4 at the start of the series, something he had to come to terms with, and then you’ve piled him under pressure not only on his own game but also as a captain. He would have gained a lot experience-wise but let’s just hope his confidence hasn’t taken a dent,” Smith asserts.
Markram who played in the under-19 World Cup and led South Africa to World Cup trophy has got Smith’s backing too, “His performances since the start of his career say that he can bat at this level. He’s obviously got the leadership credentials from Under-19, he’s spoken highly as a personality and as a person mature for his age. But I just think allowing him to grow and develop and become a strong player within the line-up, we are talking about the next-tier of cricketers. There’s a drop-off between maybe four or five senior players and the next tier. So, allow those guys to develop.”
“What was disappointing for me was that I don’t think the other senior players stepped up around him – the Amlas, Duminys, Millers, those guys just never got it going from a performance perspective, an intensity perspective. They needed to get behind and lead the way almost,” Smith concluded.
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Graeme Smith
