Ind vs SA ODIs: Runs please 'chase master' Markram, but only in winning cause

The forlorn figure of Aiden Markram, captain of South Africa’s T20I team after losing the last World Cup final to India by nine runs last year, seems a distant memory now. The soft-spoken Markram and the current bunch of Proteas have been creating more opportunities for themselves to smile this year, and the epic chase-down of a 359-run target in the second ODI in Raipur was another example of their new-found confidence and belief.

An authoritative 110 off 98 balls at the top of the order — Markram’s fourth in this format — and his 101-run partnership with captain Temba Bavuma may have set the tone for the successful chase but the key behind this new South Africa seems to be in everyone putting their hands up when it matters.

The way Matthew Breeztke and Dewald Brevis carried the chase forward showed that the tourists had learnt their lessons well after barely falling short in the first ODI in Ranchi, making it a winner-takes-all scenario in the third and final ODI at Vizag on Saturday.

‘’Runs only matter if you win games, to be fair, or at least to me. If we’d lost today, I would be as miserable as I would have been in the previous game. Getting the result is something that makes me really happy,’’ said the 31-year-old, who walked into South African cricket folklore in June with an epic, match-winning 136 against Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

An IPL regular for quite a few years now for his classy batting and handy off-spin, Markram also led Sunrisers Hyderabad, but his shorter-format exploits have often overshadowed his feats in more demanding formats. He has eight Test centuries as well, and is very much part of the leadership group of a unit which seems to have the wherewithal to push India and other sub-continental giants in the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in a few months, as well as the 2027 ICC World Cup at home.

‘’The successful chase will keep the boys in good spirits, especially with the 2027 World Cup on the way,’’ said Markram, who felt the team deserved credit for sticking to the chase, despite dewy conditions making batting a little easier. ‘’From whatever experience I have had, whenever there is dew in India, it becomes a little easier to bat,’’ he said.

On the team’s growing confidence, Markram said: ‘’To chase quite a big number gives the group belief and confidence that next time you’re in that position, we have done it again and we can do it again.’’

He was all praise for young guns Breetzke and Brevis for handling the second part of the chase in contrasting styles — the former showing the maturity to shift gears while Brevis hit them long and hard. ‘’Breetzke had an incredible start to his ODI career. He managed the situation really well today. I think he’s played 10, 11 or 12 games but the way he batted today was like this guy got at least 50 caps under his belt,’’ he added.