Aiden Markram : The most important thing is not to make the same mistakes again

The South African cricket team were the favorites ahead of the tour against the Indian team as they had never lost a bilateral series against the sub-continental side in 25 years. However, that all changed when Kohli & Co. achieved the impossible routing the hosts 5-1 in a six-match series. A South African team without the likes of Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, and Dale Steyn due to injuries was always going to play a huge part in the outcome of the series. Star batsman Ab de Villiers was also initially ruled out for a few matches before playing in the Pink ODI.

23-year old Aiden Markram stepped up in the absence of these experienced players to lead the home team in these harsh times. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go their way as they succumbed to a series loss against a determined Indian team led by the in-form Virat Kohli. But Markram insists that with a defeat there is always a lesson to be learned.

"So there are lessons we can learn, but the most important thing is not to make the same mistakes going forward. I did feel during the series that we made mistakes from previous games, so we didn't learn well from our lessons. It's crucial now that we dig into what went wrong and rectify it so it doesn't happen again in the future," Markram said in an interview to Cricbuzz.

Markram added that the squad was a young group of players, that were chosen with the 2019 World Cup in mind, so in the long-run, the players would definitely learn from a loss like this.

"Obviously we have taken a step back because results-wise and performance-wise we haven't moved forward. But having said that I'd rather it happened now than two or three months before the World Cup starts or during the World Cup," said Markram.

The young skipper also admitted that the added pressure of captaincy affected his performance with the bat during the six-match series, as he closed the series with 127 runs from six innings.

"I wasn't playing the usual game I do play. We did chat about it and today when I was batting I felt in a more comfortable space. I felt I was structuring my innings how I would if I was batting in a franchise game. It's very late in the series but it's a positive that I was able to overcome that obstacle. It's moving in the right direction I suppose," Markram explained.