Aiden Markram has scored 96 runs in this year’s T20 World Cup.
He is averaging 13.71 with the bat and has a strike rate of 100. He has bowled eight overs, taken two wickets, has an economy rate of 6.62. Nothing remarkable. He has taken eight catches, which among outfielders is the highest in the tournament.
That last detail tells a tiny bit about his captaincy. He is one of the team’s best fielders and is putting himself in the ‘hotspots’ for the most important moments.
Two of those catches were matching-winning ones; Bangladesh’s Mahmadullah in New York, when Markram sprinted and leapt to his left to cement a four-run win in the final over, and last Friday’s stunning grab, also in the last over, to end Harry Brook’s knock in St. Lucia.
Markram may not have the runs he wants, but his imprint is all over this South African campaign which will see him lead the side in a World Cup semifinal against Afghanistan on Thursday (2.30am South African time).
“He’s a very understated leader, but when he talks people listen,” said Proteas coach Rob Walter.
“It feels sometimes that nothing phases him, but we know on the inside that he does feel it,” said Marco Jansen, who has grown used to Markram’s style, having also played under him in the SA20.
Markram, publicly at least, speaks in an almost sleepy tone. “He’s also calm and level headed in the changeroom and from a leadership perspective those are great qualities to have,” said Walter.
This isn’t Markram’s first stint as a captain. He has done so 12 times in ODIs, twice at last year’s World Cup in India. But this is his first as the established skipper in a senior men’s ICC event.
Famously of course, he led the junior Proteas at the under-19 World Cup in 2014, the outcome of which made Markram the most nailed on ‘future South African captain’ of the post-isolation era.
It’s taken him a while to get there, not least because of his problems in dealing with the enormous expectations after that success at under-19 level. Even in coming to this tournament, he was asked about comparisons with that triumph, and if it would help now.
“It’s a completely different level of cricket and it was a really long time ago,” he replied.
He has made many grown-up calls at this tournament. Keshav Maharaj to bowl the final over of a match. Jansen to bowl the 19th over against a rampaging England. Not bowling Kagiso Rabada until the 18th over in a virtual quarterfinal against the West Indies. Using 12 overs of spin in that same match, including bowling himself four overs on the trot, three of those in the power play.
It was a tactical masterclass that married analysis and ‘feel’ in equal measure.
“No-one, to be fair, would have planned to roll out the bowling as it went on Monday. I don’t think KG has ever bowled his first over in the 18th of the innings in his T20 career,” said Walter. “That summed up the flexibility. It was great to see (Markram) bowling, nice that he backed himself to do that.”
“Strategically he was very strong and he has been throughout. To defend low scores, strategically you have to get it right because there is not a lot of margin to work with.”
You have to be lucky too. No strategy can account for Maharaj not conceding a boundary despite bowling three full tosses in the final over as he did in New York, and it certainly doesn’t consider the ball deflecting off the back of batter straight to a fielder, leading to a run-out as occurred in the one-run victory against Nepal.
“He brings a real competitive edge to the team; he’s attached to each game massively, he gives everything 100%,” said Walter.
Which explains why Markram hasn’t watched any other cricket at the tournament. He’s too tired to do so. However, all of the Afghan stats will be fed into the machinery now. Like he did with his daring field placement against Brook last week, he’ll use the knowledge acquired from playing alongside the likes of Rashid Khan, Naveen ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Noor Ahmad to penetrate their weaknesses.
He’d obviously want to have a bigger impact with the bat, but Markram’s World Cup has shown what a cunning and even inspirational leader he is. Now he needs to do what no other South African captain has done.
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