Aiden Markram’s horror skipper debut: I’m taking this on the chin

Aiden Markram took his nightmarish captaincy debut in the harsh environment of top international cricket on the chin and said he will learn from it, after South Africa’s record-breaking loss to India in the second one-day international at Centurion on Sunday.

The Proteas made their lowest ever total on home soil – 118 all out – and were then beaten by nine wickets with 177 balls to spare, the most ever in a defeat on home soil as the national selectors made no effort to shield their best captaincy prospect from the rigours of taking on the toughest opposition in the world with several key players missing due to injury.

“That was definitely an eye-opener, a baptism of fire, and it showed what is required at the top level. But I’ll be okay, it might just bring out the best in this team. There’s no excuse, we just did not play good cricket and the players are obviously very upset and disappointed in themselves,” Markram said after the loss.

The second youngest ODI skipper South Africa have had admitted that his batsmen had once again not handled the impacts of India’s exciting twin wrist-spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, in the middle overs.

The Proteas collapsed from 51 for one after 13 overs, losing their last nine wickets for just 67 runs, 48 of which came in a fifth-wicket stand between JP Duminy and debutant Khaya Zondo, both of whom made 25 before being dismissed by Chahal, who took five for 22.

“They’re obviously two quality bowlers but I don’t feel we played them particularly well and that was our downfall. I wouldn’t say we play spin incredibly well generally, but there was no massive danger out there today, the pitch was not too bad.

“There’s no lack of game-plan, each individual has a clear plan. We have to give those spinners credit, but we can definitely execute better. We had a fairly good start, but each batsman must take responsibility himself. At the moment we’re obviously not scoring enough runs,” Markram said.

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