South African opener Aiden Markram showered praises for the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin. Markram was dismissed after gritty innings of 94. He missed out the opportunity of out on a third Test hundred and a first against an opponent ranked in the top five of the Test rankings.
Kohli consoled Markram as the latter made his way back to the pavilion. Talking about the same, Markram said, “He came across and said, ‘Well played, you were unlucky to get out.’ It was a great touch from him. He is a massive competitor as everyone sees on the TV, but it’s great to see that he has got good values that people off the field might not see. It was a great gesture and it meant a lot.”
It was Ravichandran Ashwin who gave India the breakthrough by sending back Markram’s opening partner, Dean Elgar and broke the 85-run partnership. Talking about the same, Markram said, “We didn’t expect there to be so much assistance for him. Ashwin was difficult to face. He is difficult to face on a flat wicket as well, so it did work out well for him I suppose. He still had to bowl well so you need to give him some credit. It will be interesting to see if the pitch will get harder and if it will continue to spin like it did, or if it spun like that because of the grass cover. We’ll see in the next couple of days.”
Markram also acknowledged the fact that facing Ashwin was pretty challenging, he said, “Ashwin is a world class bowler. He always asking the right questions and he sets smart fields. It is not easy out there. I don’t think he would have expected to bowl as much today judging on how last week went. They would have expected something similar. But he is a world-class bowler and it was a good challenge to get out there and face him.”
When asked about the missed chance of scoring a century, Aiden said, “Obviously, I am bitterly disappointed. It’s the second time in a short career, but I’m just going to keep saying it’s part of the game and try to be positive. Next time I get into those situations I’ll take lessons from what I’ve learned today and hopefully get through to three figures. Even if we were ended the day two down, I still would have been disappointed. It was a bit of a nothing shot. I am not over it just yet. My next role is to try and save runs in the field and do whatever I can before we stuck in again. Probably be on in a positive space.”
