South African star batsman Aiden Markram has on Monday (May 18) expressed his ambitions to captain Proteas in the Test cricket, though he insisted “it’s not the be-all and end-all” for him, saying “it’s nice to be considered” but he doesn’t want to become desperate for the role.
Apart from Markram, Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van Der Dussen, and Keshav Maharaj are among the frontrunners to take over the Test captaincy from Faf du Plessis, who was replaced by Quinton de Kock in both white-ball formats.
Markram was quoted as saying by Sport24, “I’ve never given captaining my country too much thought. It’s always been a shot in the dark for me. But now that my name is in the hat for people who are writing news so to speak, it’s nice to be considered. I’d love to do it and I’d probably even give an arm and a leg to do it, but in the same breath I don’t want to become desperate about it.”
He further added, “I’ve said it before though that it’s not the be-all and end-all for me. I don’t want to become desperate about it. It’s one of those things where if it were to happen it would be amazing. But if not, there are plenty of good leaders within the environment that will definitely take the team. I’d be honored and excited, but I’m not looking too much into it,”
Markram led South Africa to victory at the 2014 Cricket Under-19 World Cup, and the opener said: “I really enjoy captaincy. I enjoy the responsibilities that come with it. I have been able to watch from franchise captains to a guy like Faf and it is just something that I would love to do.”
Meanwhile, the 25-year-old has been struggling in whites and even has not scored a Test century since March 2018 which led him to doubt his own ability during a difficult 12 months in the longer format.
Markram added, “I have certainly doubted myself and doubted my abilities. At the top level, you’re just a few bad knocks away from people wanting you out of the team. I doubted myself quite a bit this last year. It’s a tough space to be in but it comes with the territory and if you want to be a top performer at a high level, you’ve got to find ways to deal with it.”
He has so far featured in 20 Tests for South Africa, while spent most of the 2019-20 season sidelined due to an injury, and now, he focused on cementing his place in the side. Markram signed off by saying, “My main focus is to get back into the team and stay there.”
(With Sport24 Inputs)
