India vs South Africa | Aiden Markram claims he will seek help from Faf du Plessis in Centurion

The South African side has been under the injury bug for a while now. After losing the services of Dale Steyn, and later Temba Bavuma, in the Test series, AB de Villiers’ finger injury forced him to stay out of the first three games. After the side lost the first game against India, the Proteas have now lost their skipper du Plessis as well due to a fractured his finger.

South Africa’s selection committee eventually decided to pick Markram, over Hashim Amla and Chris Morris, to lead the side. The 23-year-old believes that he will do his best to perform in the captain's seat and will maintain a regular contact with the regular skipper which will help him in leading the side.

I’ll keep him close to me; he’s luckily going to be here throughout the game. I’ll keep sending messages asking for advice, asking for hints

Aiden Markram, on his captaincy debut in the absence of Faf du Plessis

“Faf’s sort of taken me under his wings since I’ve been involved in the environment. We’ve spoken a lot and this morning, throughout the training session. I’ve been almost side-by-side spending time chatting about plans, how he goes about things, and passing on some advice to take into the game. I’ll keep him close to me; he’s luckily going to be here throughout the game. I’ll keep sending messages asking for advice, asking for hints,” he said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Despite the presence of experienced players like Hashim Amla and JP Duminy, the management showed their trust on the young batsman and Markram said that the senior player’s experience will help him and he will work under Amla’s guidance.

“Yes, it can be intimidating. But the culture in the team is so good it allows for a young player like myself to go and engage with a guy like Hashim Amla, who’s a legend of the game. It makes it a lot easier for me. It’s not something I see as intimidating. I’ll keep Hash close to my side in the field, and obviously other experienced players as well,” he added.

It was not the first time when Markram performed in the skipper’s role as he successfully guided the South African colts to win the U-19 World Cup in 2014 which meant that in the second ODI of the six-match series the two U-19 world champion skippers will face each other as India won 2008 U-19 World Cup title under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Selectors kept an eye on Markram’s team-leading ability during the World Cup and they showed their trust by giving him a big opportunity in the series.

“I managed to sleep, yeah. Luckily I really enjoy captaining. It’s going to be an additional pressure to deal with, but I believe it’s a good pressure. You get good and bad sort of pressures, and for me, it’s really a pressure that hopefully, I can thrive on,” he said.

“Markram has always been in our plans since he was U-19 captain, leading up to SA A, and now joining the Proteas. His awareness of the game, his confidence when making decisions is what tilted in his favour,” Linda Zondi, the selection committee convener said.