Aiden Markram has spoken at length about his desire to rediscover the form which once made him one of the world’s most destructive T20 batters.
Ahead of the final T20I against India at the Wanderers in Johannesburg today (5pm start), Markram is though yet again under scrutiny as he seeks not only meaningful runs, but also to stave off a fifth bilateral series defeat under his leadership.
In fact, the Proteas have not won a single T20I series since Markram replaced Temba Bavuma as the short-format skipper in March last year.
It is such a polar opposite world to when Markram led the Proteas to eight victories on the bounce at the ICC T20 World Cup back in June, which ultimately resulted in a first-ever appearance in a Men’s World Cup final.
But even during this golden period, Markram managed just 123 runs at an average of 15.37.
His overall record with the bat while wearing the captain’s armband is not too flash either, as it only marginally improves to 480 runs in 25 matches, at an average of 22.85.
The frustrating aspect about all of this is that Markram has never looked like a batter who is battling to find the sweet spot.
In eight innings since the Barbados final, Markram has reached double figures in five of them, suggesting he is not struggling to get a start.
It’s been more about converting them into something substantial, which he was again guilty of at Centurion on Wednesday night after having the match in the palm of his hand.
He struck India’s ace spinner Varun Chakravarthy for two sixes in the over, before holing out to deep midwicket after mis-hitting a half-tracker.
Markram’s expletive-laden outburst upon his dismissal showed that he was indeed starting to feel the strain.
Heinrich Klaasen, who himself put a lean patch behind him with a 22-ball 41 at Centurion, certainly felt the exasperation of his skipper.
“If I put your career, whatever job anyone does, on the table, and I said, ‘If you make one mistake, and that’s the end’, you will be frustrated if you make a mistake. Not that his career is at all on the line, by the way,” Klaasen said.
“I’m just saying, people need to understand that that’s what we go through. It’s in the heat of the moment.
“There’s a billion people that are going to be on your head if you fail. There’s a lot of frustration, and he was looking fantastically in the way that he struck the ball tonight.
“It’s nice to see that he’s finding some rhythm in his game, and hopefully he will kick on.”
It could be a case of Markram following Klaasen’s lead, with the explosive right-hander having sought out “people that I do trust” to get back to his best.
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“It’s been a lean run, but I’ve also had a small break. It’s been a helluva year. It is not that easy to play this format especially, and just play aggressive cricket, and the style I play, just to find some form,” Klaasen said.
“That first knock I felt way out of my depth, let’s say the first 20 balls.
“There were some technical glitches, and once again I’ve gone back to the people that I do trust who know my game and understand my game.
“It’s still not perfect, but a lot better. I am in the fortunate position to understand my game and know what to tweak.”
The Proteas will certainly have to fine-tune more than just the batters’ form after the bowlers conceded over 200 runs for the second time in three matches at Centurion.
The wasteful expenditure in terms of no-balls and wides also needs to be put to an immediate stop.
Klaasen feels that the quick turnaround between matches could effectively work in the Proteas’ favour.
“There is no time to hover on this. We will make small tweaks.
“But other than that, that’s part of professional cricket these days, and it’s also a beauty that if you’re in good or bad form, everything happens quickly, and you can just move on,” he said.
Squads For Wanderers
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Donovan Ferreira, Patrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Mihlali Mpongwana, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqaba Peter, Ottneil Baartman, Lutho Sipamla.
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarty, Yash Dayal, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan.