Time for me and other younger cricketers to play more responsibly, reckons Aiden Markram

Aiden Markram is one of the brightest prospects in the cricketing world and is soon emerging as a player who can shoulder the responsibility of the South African batting lineup to quite an extent. He reinforced the same with a stellar performance in the second unofficial Test against India ‘A’, as his 161 in the run up to the Test series against the main squad earned him the man of the match award. 

While other batsmen struggled against the spinners that took more than 60-percent of the Proteas’ wickets, Markram prevailed with his typical elegance. However, he is sure that the conditions in the Test series, as well as the trio of Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav, will possess greater challenges.

“It was nice to spend time at the crease. Being successful comes down to having self-confidence, which you gain from playing good knocks like this one. But I’m under no illusions that the pitches for the Tests will be as batting-friendly as this one,” Markram said, reported Sportstar.

With the stalwart trio of Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir announcing their retirements recently, a void has been left in the team which needs to be filled by the young batch of players who have been emerging through the ranks. The 24-year-old feels there isn’t much scope anymore to play under the protection of being newcomers to the international arena and tit is time they started taking more responsibility.

“It’s time for me and other younger guys to play with more responsibility and start winning games for South Africa. We cannot continue to play the fearless and expressive cricket that we did before,” Markram said.

Even though he shot in the spotlight after leading his team to the U-19 World Cup five years ago, he has since tread a difficult path, failing to find domestic teams ready to have him in their ranks.

“When you are young, you expect things to happen a lot quicker. I didn’t get a contract, so I was forced to play ‘B’ side cricket. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I learnt a lot, especially about red-ball cricket,” he said.

“I never thought my career would shape like this. It’s a dream to represent my country, never mind to captain it. The captaincy took me by surprise; it’s a massive privilege. There have been quite a few lows and highs in this short time,” the budding batsman signed off.