"Was Obviously Hurting...": Aiden Markram's Massive Praise For Injured Temba Bavuma

South Africa opener Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma emerged as the heroes in the side's historic win over Australia in the final of the World Test Championship at Lord's, London. Markram scored a 136 while Bavuma hit 66 as the duo stitched a match-defining 147-run stand for the third wicket in the chase of 282 runs. While Markram scripted multiple records with his match-winning century, the innings from Bavuma was no less, considering the fact that he was battling a hamstring injury. The Proteas captain was even given an option from his team to retire hurt but he opted to continue for his side.

After the match, Markram was full of praise for his captain. "To be really honest, a lot of it came from him. He's always led from the front for us, he has been incredible for us, specifically in this campaign, these last 2-3 years," he said.

"He obviously hurt it, but he did not want to walk off the field. He was never going to give up and found a way to score runs, really important runs and build an important partnership for us to get close. Those sort of knocks are something that I think a lot of people will end up remembering," Markram added.

Markram, who was named the Player of the Match in the final, had scored a six-ball duck in the first innings but bounced back beautifully to score a historic ton when it mattered the most. He admitted that this was the most important knock he ever played in his career.

"Weird how things work out if you get a duck in the first innings and you come into the second innings, quite a few concerns. Ultimately you need a bit of luck here and there, spent some time in the middle and find runs, grateful things worked out quite nicely," he said.

"Lord's is the place every Test cricketer wants to play. All the members here, also plenty of South African fans have made the trip and it was one of the most special days. That's the case. It's always one side of the sword - you need to absorb and then think about scoring later. When you look at the wicket, the quality of bowling and you have an X amount of balls to face, it's about maximising scoring out of those balls," added Markram as South Africa clinched their first-ever ICC trophy in 27 years.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket South Africa Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team South Africa vs Australia, Final Aiden Markram Temba Bavuma