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Follow UsAs a batter, Aiden Markram passes the eye test at first glance. An inch-perfect upright batting stance that would make a cricket fan of any age group take notice. A compact technique on both front and back foot. He is efficient in facing both spin and pace. A straight down swing of the bat followed by a resounding sound of connection with the ball. He threads the gap like a surgeon.
You are bound to like him. Virat Kohli, a modern-day genius with a behemoth of statistics to his name, shared the same opinion after Markram’s 16th Test innings, in which he had scored 84 against Australia in Cape Town in 2018.
On Saturday evening (October 7), the 29-year-old showed exactly why he is a delight to watch. Batting at four, Markram caressed his way to a 49-ball hundred, the fastest ever recorded in an ODI World Cup fixture. Caressed is the right way to describe the innings, as his knock was about hitting the gaps as much as it was about power-hitting.
Yes, the conditions were good for batting - no record of a milestone knock played at a quick rate comes in challenging conditions - and the platform was laid by tons from Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen. But walking out to bat in the 31st over, Markram had the responsibility not to let the momentum dip. Often, the undoing of a big partnership can open the gate for the opposition, leading to the innings losing gas in a domino effect.
Markram started on a regular note, scoring 9 from his first 10 balls, hitting a solitary four. He started the second 10-ball block of his innings with three consecutive boundaries and never looked back. Three of these four boundaries were the hallmark of the innings - the ball being driven past the bowler twice and once through the covers. It was a pristine mixture of timing and hammering the ball with orthodox strokes.
By the time he reached his half-century in 34 balls, Markram had scored 83 percent of his runs in the off-side, with nine fours and no sixes. It tells you the different texture of this new addition in the fastest World Cup tons’ club. In a city known for congestion on the roads, Markram drove with free will, scoring heavily in the cover region - nearly 50 percent of his 106 runs.
The next two entries in the fastest World Cup tons’ tally - Kevin O’Brien from 50 balls in 2011 and Glenn Maxwell from 51 balls in 2015 - had over 50 percent runs scored in the on-side.
However, things have not come easy for Markram. For a batter who can befriend the cover region like that, scoring runs should come spontaneously to him. But that isn’t the case with this Centurion born.
Since his debut in 2017, Markram averaged only 28.6 with the bat until the end of 2022. In 41 innings, he had managed only nine 50+ scores without any triple-digit figures. 2023 is where the runs have come.
This year, the right-hander has belted 683 runs at an average of 68.3. The strike rate is up at 127.4 and this hundred in Delhi is his third ODI ton.
Before Delhi, Markram had played all his 11 innings this year in South Africa. The Rainbow Nation has been a high-scoring country, with an average of 33, the second highest among any host country this year. It is also the only country where the batting strike rate exceeds 100.
Markram has been a beneficiary of that while contributing to these numbers in equal bounds. However, in a big difference, he has also improved his power game.
Given South Africa’s top-order options were stacked, Markram was fitted at number four in T20Is in June 2021. It propelled him to work on his game against spin and power-hitting.
On Saturday, Markram didn’t face a lot of spin. He played only 11 balls of Sri Lanka spinners, from which he milked 15 runs. He was more punishing against pace - racking up 91 runs from 43 deliveries. But there was plenty of power in his drives while he thumped the ball off the middle of the bat.
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He played the ball over the fielders; he played it around them. Gaps are more compact in smaller venues like Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium but Markram evaded the fielders with the speed of his strokes.
He has also scored at 158.6 in T20Is in 2023, his highest strike rate in a year in the shortest format. There are clear signs that Markram is a transformed player in white-ball cricket, a beast perhaps, as the numbers suggest.
Markram's monstrous start to the World Cup campaign is a big tick for the Proteas. Not that he was the missing piece. The vice-captain had recently amassed an unbeaten hundred two ODIs ago against Australia. But provided the lack of depth and bench strength, it is vital for South Africa for all their batters to be at their absolute best. It is one of the things they need to go right for a successful campaign. Markram’s first World Cup hundred sets the tone for one of the most dangerous middle-orders of this tournament.
Only two South African batters have ever scored an ODI hundred after walking in to bat post the 30th over mark. AB de Villiers has done it twice and now Aiden Markram.
“I think you do try to evolve as a batter and it's weird when you bump your head a few times, maybe exploring options that are not your plan A," Markram said after the game. "But you try to explore them in the nets, sometimes get confidence from it. Try to bring it out in the game. Luckily, the ball hit the gaps tonight,” he added.
Markram has also done this World Cup a huge favour. The record-breaking ton could prove to be the catalyst for the cricket craze back home while the Springboks (South Africa’s rugby team) are defending their title in the Rugby World Cup. Cricket is second to rugby in the pecking order in South Africa.
Simultaneously, it could build a buzz around the non-India games in this World Cup. After a slow start to the day, the crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium had accumulated in time for the Markram masterclass. In a milestone-driven nation, the hundred could encourage Indian cricket-savvy fans to relish a home World Cup, even when their team is not playing.
