“The innings ranks high up, but at the end of the day, to be out there now, and getting us over the line would have been the ideal scenario,” said Proteas opener, Aiden Markram, whose century was unable to take the Proteas to the 370 Pakistan had set.
Beginning the day at an encouraging 127/1, with Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen at the crease, the Proteas soon lost van der Dussen and Faf du Plessis in quick succession.
Temba Bavuma (61) tried to steady the ship with Markram(108), but were not able to counter the high-quality pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali, who finished with ten wickets for the game.
“To lose a game, to lose a series eats at you a lot more than one or two personal performances that might have gone alright,” said Markram, reflecting on his personal milestones, while disappointed that his runs were not enough to take the Proteas to a victory. What hurt Markram significantly was, “there were stages throughout this series where we were making progress, maybe getting ahead, and then we’d give it away.”
With the frequency of batting collapses at key stages in Test matches being a serious cause for concern for the Proteas, Markram said, “You have to appreciate the fact that we’re in the subcontinent and getting in is really tough. The nature of the conditions suggests wickets will fall in clusters.”
While the Proteas don’t have the panacea to arrest these frequent batting collapses, Markram believes it is essential for batsmen to “get through 20-30 balls.” “It does, slowly but surely, get easier,” said Markram.
Marked as a potential Proteas captain in the near future, Markram said, “I haven’t given it too much thought.” Having played four Test matches this season, Markram was more focused on cementing his spot in the side by scoring runs and winning games for the team.
Describing the mood of the team, Markram said, “The mood is pretty down at the moment. It’s never nice losing Tests and series. It does leave a bitter taste.” “It will take some time to reflect and improve,” Markram explained.
