Virat Kohli’s old tweet on Aiden Markram resurfaces as South African batter enjoys purple patch

Aiden Markram has indeed made a name for himself in recent years. Having led South Africa to the Under-19 World Cup in 2014, the right-handed batter paved his way in the senior team and didn’t take long in making a mark. While Markram has been a part of the Test team since a while, his blitzes in the T20 format came into the fore only a couple of years ago.

In fact, Markram was on a roll in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. In five matches, the 27-year-old slammed 162 runs with his average and strike rate being 54.00 and 145.95 respectively. Riding on his brilliance, South Africa won four of their five games in the Super 12 stage. The Proteas met the in-form England side in their last league-stage game and Markram didn’t miss out on making a mark.

Aiden Markram is a delight to watch: Virat Kohli

He slammed an unbeaten 52 off 25 balls as South Africa walked away with a 10-run win. Markram’s blitzes against the Three Lions dug out an old tweet of Virat Kohli. “Aiden Markram is a delight to watch!” Kohli had tweeted in March 2018 when Australia toured South Africa for a four-match Test series. Markram had played some fine knocks during the series and Kohli was also impressed.

Aiden Markram is a delight to watch!

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 24, 2018

Three years later, Markram is making his bat talk in white-ball cricket and Kohli’s tweet resurfaced. Social media users have been lauding the Indian skipper for identifying the then young talent precisely. Meanwhile, Markram’s blitzes against England did take South Africa home but it couldn’t earn them a place in the semi-finals.

Defending 189 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, South Africa needed to restrict England below 131 to go through. However, the Eoin Morgan-led side went onto post 179/8 in their allotted 20 overs. South African skipper Temba Bavuma, after the match, admitted that he wanted his side in the knock-out stage. However, he seemed pleased with his side’s effort.

“The win was important. Bitter-sweet end for us. We achieved what we wanted to – win the game but just couldn’t win it big enough. At the start of the tournament, that (net run rate) was never a factor for us, we just wanted to win games. It’s always tough to make up for that at the back end, especially against a team like England,” Bavuma said after the game.