South Africa captain Aiden Markram has signaled confidence ahead of the upcoming two-Test series against Pakistan, starting on October 12, showing that he is not overly concerned about Pakistan’s home advantage. With regular skipper Temba Bavuma unavailable, Markram will lead the Proteas in the absence of their leader.
Markram Welcomes Pakistan’s Home Conditions
Markram appeared relaxed about the conditions South Africa might face in Pakistan. He encouraged the hosts to prepare pitches suited to their strengths, stating,
“𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆-𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐.”
At South Africa’s High Performance Centre in Pretoria, the team has been practicing on pitches designed to simulate Pakistani conditions. Markram explained,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍. 𝑾𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚; 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒘. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙𝒆𝒔.”
Not Worried About Extreme Conditions
The South African skipper remained confident that his team could handle the turning tracks, noting that extreme conditions would challenge both sides equally.
“𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘. 𝑾𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕,”
Before heading to Pakistan, South Africa will face Namibia in a one-off T20I. The squads for the T20I and ODI legs of the multi-format series against Pakistan are yet to be announced.
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