Markram revels in Kohli’s high praise

During South Africa's ongoing Test series against Australia, the cricket on the field has often taken a backseat, with numerous other unsavoury incidents, culminating in the recent ball-tampering scandal, serving to distract from what has been an intriguing and at times thrilling series.

But one man’s exploits have still managed to catch the eye: 22-year-old South Africa opener Aiden Markram, who has notched up 443 runs so far across the four matches, two centuries and a half-century among them, culminating in a superb Test-best 152, made on day one of the fourth Test at the Wanderers.

He has even caught the eye of perhaps the best batsman in the world today, India captain Virat Kohli having expressed his appreciation for Markram twice over Twitter, a week ago calling him a delight to watch, and on Friday responding just with emojis, words apparently unable to do justice to the South African’s talents.

Markram confirmed that the appreciation is mutual.

"It's quite a special feeling. There are a lot of players that I look up to who are a bit older than me and he is one of them," Markram said. "His competitiveness is something to admire and his motivation to keep scoring runs is something I've tried to take on board."

Kohli clearly appreciates Markram’s efforts when the two aren’t opposing each other, but when they were, he was responsible for one of the toughest times of Markram’s short international career so far, when he was thrust into the one-day captaincy role for the Proteas series against India.

He and the team struggled, with Markram making a high score of just 32 in the six-match series, and South Africa succumbing 5-1 overall. "I was pretty down" he said. "I felt quite responsible for the series loss and personal performance didn't go too well either."

His recent form has therefore been all the more enjoyable to watch, and no more so than today, when he outscored all his more esteemed partners, at times seeming like he was batting on a different surface. "AB (de Villiers) strolled down the wicket and said, 'this is tough, I don't feel like I am batting too well'," said Markram.

But though Markram himself admitted no one “ever really felt in”, he found a method and succeeded. "I try to get into that bubble,” he said, “it's like a space for me."

Even if Markram was blocking everything out, many other people have been taking notice.