The romanticisation of prodigies within the sports realm is a tradition both ancient and universal. Well, we can sideline sports for the time-being; children are the strata for which we all feel an inbuilt sensation of conditional affection. Combined with our perpetual quest for the next candidate to be burdened with the GOAT shouts, teenage sensations have always been a hot potato amongst the media. Well, one such Wunderkind in relatively recent history is Aiden Markram.
A 6’ foot tall, literally golden-haired boy, Markram’s feats in youth games may not stack-up against fellow head-liners but given the barren pot of gold of the rainbow nation when it comes to ICC tournaments; Aiden’s 2014 under-19 World Cup campaign in which he led South Africa to their first ever World Championship at any level (across genders) in addition to bagging the player-of-the-tournament award, catapulted him towards the nation’s cricketing spotlight. And yet, after only 2 years, we had articles titled, “The forgotten prodigy of South Africa – Aiden Markram”!
While his batchmate Rabada was running through international sides the very next year, and immediate seniors De Kock, Phehlukwayo and Theunis De Bruyn had already made their international debuts, Markram wasn’t even able to secure a CSA T20 league contract.
Psychology hasn’t been able to objectively give an answer as to which emotion is the worst, but if you were to ask me, I would tell you it’s regret. Other negative emotions more or less provide a hope, hope for escape from the source, hope for the ordeal to end. But in a cent percent of cases of Regret, the only way to end things is accepting the past as it is, and the hardships of acceptance is a well-documented topic. Now if you contract the circle to sports fans, then only the feeling of regret gets substituted by the conversation of “What If?” and nowhere is it more relevant than for the profiles such as that of Markram’s.
However, the fleeting yet familiar clouds of doom seemed to float away after Aiden finally made his international debut in 2017. A knock of 97 in his very first innings for the senior team, followed by the fact that he was bestowed upon as the ODI captain over the likes of Duminy, Amla and Miller when his experience in the format was of only 2 games, foreshadowed the amount of backing he has received over the next 8 years whereas the immediate impact was of comparisons being drawn across Aiden and another Saffa legend who ascended the captaincy crown when he was 21.
On the one hand, Graeme Smith solidified himself as one of the best batsman in the world over the first 7 years of his career, whereas our protagonist swam the same seas of mediocrity which is acceptable for a young debutant but not for an athlete who was approaching the phase of his life where most cricketers peak.
It always feels like all national teams at all times employ at least one such player around whom the conversation at all times seems to revolve around the individual’s potential. Mominul Haque, KL Rahul, Mitchell Marsh, Shimron Hetmyer and Ollie Pope are some of the examples in the current international circuit whom I can think of, but Markram along with KL seem to be the flag-bearers of this group. Cricketing greats across oceans, most notably Virat Kohli have over the years expressed their positive views upon his abilities but Aiden has always lacked a very important factor which elevated all those individuals to the pantheon of the best and that is consistency.
Possessing the skills to be an all-format superstar, only his T20I statistics provide a glimpse of this capability to an extent. Moreover, in ODIs his recent exploits at the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy gives hope of a redemption, but the red-ball arena, which Markram considers to be his favourite as well as the most important format, is where his career is the most underwhelming.
Opening in South Africa is one of the toughest challenges for a test batter ever since the country’s readmission, yet Markram seems to do just fine over there. Well, then what’s the issue? That’s about the only place where he has succeeded. Till May 2025, Aiden hadn’t even been able to secure a half-century in 5 of the 7 countries that he has toured! And yet out of the 25 matches South Africa have played away from home since Markram’s debut, he has played in 17 of them. Well then, what’s the reason for this immense backing?
Like the rest of the players mentioned above, Markram’s catalogue of his best knocks is far better than what one would conclude after extrapolating their raw numbers. First of these was the one which garnered him global attention; a 143-run 4th innings counter-attack against the Aussie quartet at Durban, where the entire team managed only 298. He had yet another 4th innings masterclass, 108 at Rawalpindi and this is before Pakistan started rolling out highways over there in this decade but his best knock is by far his century against India at Cape Town. A chanceless 101 in an innings where the 2nd highest scorer had 12 runs, these shimmers of sophistication and splendour were what served as the chain to which Markram clung until the recently concluded WTC final.
For a team as consistent as South Africa has been, their lack of success in ICC tournaments continues to be a baffling episode. It has become so synonymous with the cricketing side, that even experts include this “choking” factor in pre-game analysis. Well if one is to follow sporting superstitions, then the 2024 T20 World Cup final was the perfect premise for the ascension of the protea’s prince who had by now secured the captaincy in 20-over internationals. Having led Cape Town to two consecutive titles as well as performing in the knockout stages of SA20 and the previous two ICC knockouts that he had been a part of, Markram seemed to fit into the sporting archetype who are known to break such so-called curses. Well, so what happened?
An ordinary delivery by Arshdeep, 135 kmph around the 6th-7th stump with maybe a slight away movement; Aiden goes fishing, outside edge; OUT. A terrible campaign for Markram came to an end and the Indian pacer’s miracle at the death meant the Saffa’s thirst persisted. This article could have ended right over here, or possibly followed by a lazy what-if question in another timeline, but the good thing about sports is that if you don’t give up, chances will keep occurring periodically, and the next one came at Lords.
This time around, the spotlight was miles away from our figurehead. Australia had arguably the best bowler and the best batter of this era, whereas South Africa themselves had the former’s competitor and an unconventional messiah. On top of that, you add individual elements such as Travis, the Aussie quartet and the promising youngsters of the men in green, the only aspect where Markram’s name was being brought was that of experience. Ironic isn’t it? The player who at 21 seemed to be the next youth sensation had his utility confined within the walls of mere experience by the time he had reached 30.
A Rabada special meant Markram and Rickleton implanted their footprints within the 22 yards on Day 1 itself. By this point of his career, everyone knows Mitchell Starc’s plan of action when it comes to the new-ball. The first 3 deliveries of the innings, all outside-off, all angling away, all left alone by Aiden. The 4th ball came angling in and an inside edge saved our batter. With each stride of Starc, anticipation grew and the climax occurred rather quickly, at the last ball of this very over. Slightly shorter, moving into the body, another inside edge but this time, it was the hard timber instead of the cushion of his pads. Aiden Markram; dismissed for a 6-ball duck in his first innings of the WTC final.
It might be dramatic but this very moment could be the lowest point of Aiden Markram’s international stint. One of the biggest games in South African cricket history, and here he walks back to the infamous balcony, without troubling the scorers. The glitter of the once golden boy had worn off, the shine had faded and once again the mind raced to what a player he could have been had…..
I had expressed my views as to why regret or rather melancholic reminiscences of the past are one of the most depressing settings given how void of hope they are, but even the most pessimistic individual gathers faith when a new innings starts, for each innings is void of the past.
4th innings performances are one of the very few statistical aspects where Aiden can match up with the all-time greats and here laid yet another chase; a mountain of 282 runs against the Australian attack, a mountain whose peak contained salvation. The South African top-order was criticised for being over-defensive in the first innings, but Markram took the onus over here. He raced to 16 of his first 15 deliveries and although he lost both his partners relatively cheaply, his strokes reflected a resolution which seemed characteristic of the 3 innings mentioned earlier. With a diverse batting-pie with boundaries scored at each of the 8 slices, batting conditions had become easier, but Aiden didn’t leave things to chance. Except for the odd thick-edge, none of the Aussie pacers came close to causing any resemblance of discomfort.
With the support of skipper Temba, each run off Markram’s blade brought him closer to the prophecy or rather the dream which was first seen at Dubai in 2014. Aiden eventually completed his 3rd fourth innings century; the highest tally is of 5. At the end, he was dismissed by Hazlewood, but things had already come to an unofficial end by then. South Africa were the WTC winners, only their 3rd trophy considering any level of cricket and the Protean Prince starred in two of them.
