When it comes to playing the cover drive, then more often than not, two batsmen in world cricket are frequently credited for playing it the best. You know their names. Another occasion of naming them would make it sound as though they, irrespective of how wonderful they are at executing it, invented the shot.
But there’s another batsman who neither hails from India or Pakistan who plays the stroke just as well. As a matter of fact, his cover drive against Australia’s Hazlewood early into the first innings back in the tense 2019 World Cup encounter was perhaps amongst the strokes of the tournament.
Alas, it really wasn’t hailed as one. But a thing can be said for certain.
His then captain, Faf du Plessis, who top scored in that game, admired it as far as to walk ten further steps to give the batter a pat on the back.
Batting appears a fine art when Aiden Markram practices it like a perpetually hungry student. He demonstrated another impeccable instance of playing the cover drive in the tense T20 world cup game against Bangladesh just a few hours ago.
The perfectly stroked boundary between cover and deep cover region fetched him his only runs against a mighty impressive bowling side. Markram with his high elbow, perfect balance nearly held onto the pose.
But a few moments later just like that, he was gone. Like a lover rushing off from the scene of romance due to some unforeseeable emergency, he perished after only eight deliveries. And that was that.
A game earlier, yet another tense encounter against the Dutch, Aiden Markram failed to open his score. A waywardly pitched length delivery that was straining down the leg side caught an edge of his bat only to find Vivian Kingma his big reprieve.
And just like that, Makram was a goner. On this occasion, he faced no more than three deliveries.
Though, nothing would hurt the right hander as much as his T20 world cup opening act against the Sri Lankans. Just when it looked that he was set and perhaps prepping to go a long way, Markram handed away his wicket to Dasun Shanaka. Of his 12 off 14, there was one towering six.
Thus far, the T20 2024 World Cup has been a disappointing one for one of Cricket’s most stylish batters. One who is also the captain of a star-studded line up that reeks of confidence and courage and not to forget, the quintessential Protea unflappability.
The amount of time Markram has spent in the middle is far less than the time taken by Rishabh Pant, top scorer for India against Pakistan, in merely getting up after attempting half-a-dozen mishits or miscalculated shots.
That said, the basic nature of the sport doesn’t really change, irrespective of whether one plays the Test, ODI or the shortest format.
Surely, it’s easier to lament and even easier to find faults from the cushy confines of an air conditioned room while it’s far more strenuous to actually be in the act amid a live game.
But the truth, regardless, is that it’s about spending time in the middle. Remember how in the latter stages of his T20I career, Gayle took his time before going all wham-bam?
Another anchor of the game, one who batted in the classical mould much like Aiden Markram himself, Rahul Dravid once consumed well over 40 odd deliveries to get going in an Australia Test.
And while T20 demands instantaneous run-making, it is not that you will lose the game if you begin to explode after setting your eye for somewhere close to two overs.
At the outset, Aiden Markram is a world class and game changing act in world cricket. His record offers assurance and quiet confidence to a line-up that can so often look shaky and one that in the post-de Kock era would look up to a Markram for further solidity.
After averaging an almost identical 35 in both Test and One day cricket, Markram further compels the fan to take his batting seriously after it is discovered that even his T20I average is 36.
On an average, he scores a fifty in every four and a half outings in this format. Make no mistake, his strike rate is touching 150.
These are serious numbers. Only an observer less serious about the game would consider these unworthy achievements.
But where Markram quickly reduces himself into being some kind of a lightweight material is that at times, he leaves the pitch soon after walking on it. On other occasions, he assists the bowlers in claiming his wicket.
The classic case of a batter who dissociates himself suddenly from completing a masterwork as if he became disinterested or lost the fire when maybe only an error of judgement was the reason for the abandonment.
While his batting average of 35 in the twin formats of the game severely undermine Markram’s ability as a complete batsman, it’s not that his T20I career is severely dampened by a lack of performance.
On the contrary, thus far Markram has registered only two ducks in the shortest format while he has only five single digit scores at this level whilst playing T20I’s for South Africa from the onset of 2018.
Two of these have come in this current T20 World Cup.
Should Markram continue to gift his wicket, he would be self imploding. It’s a trait he can’t ill afford, especially because as captain, he ought to do better.
On the positive, Aiden Markram’s game is based on a healthy combination of playing attackingly whilst also constructing an inning meticulously. He is a rare cricketer in that he can both revive a fractured inning as well as deploy traditional as well as explosive strokes on free will.
A classic case in point is his 52 off 41 against India in the 2022 T20 world cup at Perth, a knock where the watchful Aiden paved way to the marauding Markram.
Another example prior to that is the fifth T20I played against the West Indies at Grenada in 2021, where it took Markram just 48 deliveries to reach what has since remained a career-best 70.
At best, he was merciless and yet, classy. So destructive and yet, so watchable.
But what the present-day South African line up needs is more reassurance from the bat of someone who can bat an opposition out of the reckoning. If he does set his mind to achieving consistency, arguably the big missing element in his game, there’s no reason why Aiden Markram can’t be a world beating batsman and an achiever much like the highly decorated ‘stars’ such as Virat Kohli.