Encouragingly for South African fans, the 29-year-old arrives in India on the back of winning the Player of the Series award against Australia in an ODI showdown that the Proteas managed to win 3-2.
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Aiden Markram holds the rare honour of being the only South African captain to lift a Cricket World Cup – albeit at junior level – in 2014. Nevertheless, when Markram was finally drafted into the Proteas’ squad in 2017, the hope was that his ability and leadership would end the painful World Cup drought that the senior side had experienced since its return from sporting isolation in 1991.
Six years on from his debut and the truth is that Markram’s impact at international level has been somewhat negligible. However, that could be about to change with the Proteas set to try and go all the way in India during the 2023 World Cup.
While the latest outright Cricket World Cup winner odds make this an outside possibility after South Africa were priced at 15/2, the feeling within the Rainbow Nation is that the Proteas are blossoming at just the right time.
This may be a realisation that the rest of the world comes to once the tournament gets to the halfway point. In other words, even if the latest cricket tips currently predict that India will win the 2023 World Cup, this is likely to change in the event that the Proteas fulfill their potential during the pool stage as is expected they will by their fans.
To do this, South Africa will need Markram at his ruthless best at the top of the Proteas’ batting line-up. Encouragingly for South African fans, the 29-year-old arrives in India on the back of winning the Player of the Series award against Australia in an ODI showdown that the Proteas managed to win 3-2.
If it hadn’t been for Markram taking the series by the scruff of the neck with South Africa 2-0 down after two games, then the Proteas would have surely suffered a demoralising defeat on the eve of the World Cup.
Instead, Markram scored 102 and 93 in the remaining matches to hand his country a famous come-from-behind win. Furthermore, at the conclusion of the five-match ODI series, Markram had notched up 225 runs at an average of 56 with a strike rate of 115.
The reality is that those are elite numbers against the most successful country in history to have ever played in the Cricket World Cup. Indeed, given that Markram was able to put five-time World Cup winners Australia to the sword in the fashion that he did, it becomes easier to see why South African fans are quietly optimistic about what the next six weeks in India may have in store for their team.
Admittedly, the pressure at a World Cup is significantly more intense than what players experience in a home series. Although South African fans won’t need reminding of this fact after decades of disappointment at cricket’s greatest showpiece when winning looked easier than losing.
In Markram though, the Proteas have a player who doesn’t have the scar tissue of Edgbaston in 1999, St Lucia in 2007, or Eden Park in 2015.
Aside from a rained-out tournament in 2019 in England when momentum proved impossible for most teams, the only proper memory Markram has of a World Cup is winning it.
With Markram in the form of his life and having tasted success at a global event, South Africa will look to him to inspire their World Cup charge.
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