Markram hoping to contribue more as he feels “not out of touch” despite being frustrated on inability to make big scores.
Markram hoping to contribute more as he feels ‘Frustrated’ but not ‘out of touch’.
According to the statistics, Aiden Markram has enjoyed his typical Test season. He currently has 499 runs and averages 35.64 in 2024, which is somewhat less than his average of 35.75 overall and higher than his two lucrative years of 34.60 in 2021 and 33.60 in 2018.
Even though he had recently hit a crucial fifty before this match, he was under so much strain going into this Test that his captain, Temba Bavuma, was asked if he felt the need to take Markram out for coffee and check on him. Bavuma said that he could have.
“I look at Aiden and the struggles that he’s going through and I resonate a lot with the experiences that he’s going through as a player. Putting myself in his shoes, sometimes you just need someone to speak to. Not necessarily someone to tell you what to do, but just to be empathetic to whatever it is that you’re going through,” Bavuma said before the match.
In addition to praising Markram for being a team leader and a mentor to the younger players, Bavuma assured them that the satisfaction would come when he “gets over to the other side.”
Even if South African batsmen have hit 10 hundreds this year, an 89 is still not quite enough, but Markam can recognise the importance of his performance at SuperSport Park.
“For me, it’s not about me making hundreds. Obviously, making hundreds is great and it does feel good and you know you’re contributing, but it’s more the situation of the game that you find yourself in and when you find yourself getting out, that can frustrate you a lot,” Markram said. “The hundred would be fantastic if it were to happen, but it’s not about Aidan Markram scoring a hundred. It’s more about getting the team into a really strong position where we can hopefully win a game of cricket.”
“It was really frustrating because I feel like I’ve been moving well and seeing the ball nicely, but finding some really interesting ways to get out. That’s more the frustrating part, but it’s been quite a busy year.
“There’s times where you lack a little bit of mental edge because you’re playing so often and you go through a bit of mental fatigue. That’s where the frustration comes from. It would be a completely different conversation if I was feeling quite scratchy and feeling out of touch. I’m very fortunate that that’s not the case. I’m obviously frustrated that I haven’t been scoring runs. Obviously, it plays on you as a guy who has pride in performance and wants to contribute to winning games at cricket.”