Give stand-in captain more time, Kohli urges

INDIAN batting superstar Virat Kohli has pleaded with South Africans to show patience and not judge young South African stand-in captain Aiden Markram too harshly.

The 23-year-old Markram took over the captaincy duties after Faf du Plessis’s injury in the first ODI in Durban and South Africa lost four of the five matches he was in charge of by big margins, leading to questions about the decision to give him the responsibility.

“It is not easy when the results don’t go your way but I have been very impressed with him as a batsman and as a captain‚” Kohli said after the sixth and final ODI in Centurion.

“He is very composed from what I saw on the field. He is someone who does not lose his cool and that is a positive thing.

“He has captained his province‚ at junior level as well, and I will suggest that people show patience with him because he is potentially your next leader.

“I totally empathise with him because I have been in that position and all I can say is that he is on the right track.”

Markram only scored 127 runs in his six innings during the series with a high score of 32 and admitted that the responsibility of leading had somehow affected his batting.

“The coach [Ottis Gibson] has the full right to say that maybe the captaincy affected my batting in the series, looking with a naked eye. Maybe it was due to the pressure of being in the zone and worrying about other things.

“We chatted about it, and on Friday when I batted I felt comfortable and paced my innings the way I wanted to, like in a franchise game.

“There is a lot of pressure as an individual to do well because I have set high standards for myself‚” Markram said‚ adding that they were disappointed after losing the series, but not embarrassed.

“Embarrassing is a harsh word, but we were not up to the standard that we would have liked and we are disappointed as a squad.

“We put a lot of hard work in behind the scenes.” – TimesLIVE