Kolkata: Lucknow Supergiants Aiden Markram Not the kind of batsman who goes out and hits sixes. He doesn’t have a lot of panache in his work, but delivers what’s needed. Excerpts from a conversation with the South African white-ball team captain...LSG has three players who have led the national team, Nicholas Pooran and Mickey Marsh. Captain? Ritha Pant Share ideas with you?Yes, he does. It’s always a good balance because it’s his team and he wants to do it his way, which is important. Happily, whenever there was a bit of uncertainty or he needed input, he would liaise with me, Mitch, Nicky and obviously (strategic adviser) Kane Williamson.It seems that the pants are in pretty good condition…Any team with Rishabh is a better team. He is an absolute entertainer with great abilities. He always wanted to lead from the front. He was very proud of his performance. You can’t keep a good player down for too long.Unlike last year, LSG did not have any injury problems this time…Definitely better than last year. We saw really good things from the speed attack in the first two games. Obviously, the addition of pacer (Mohammed) Shami, his ability and experience is huge.Shami performed brilliantly in the last game…No one really likes him. Having him in the team and having him share that knowledge with some of the younger pacers like Prince Yadav and Mayank (Yadav) is priceless.You have evolved into a T20 player…It was more about understanding my character. There are a lot of people playing T20 cricket now who can hit sixes from the first ball. My way of doing things might look a little different. Still playing Test cricket, you can’t develop the technical aspects of the T20 game. I have to use what I have and it’s more about trying to play good cricket and trust that it will work on the day. So maybe a few less six points, but if I can still hit the required pace, then that makes me happy.You are known to be very calm. Have you ever lost your cool on the court?certainly. You are only human. I think over a period of time, if you don’t perform well, you get very frustrated. This actually happened to me when I was younger. Over time I have settled down. I remember having a conversation with Hashim Amla about this and he just said cricket is one of the reasons for our existence but not the only reason. As a human being, it’s important to try to be consistent whether you’re doing well or poorly. That’s what I’m trying to manage now.Would you consider the 136 in the World Trade Center finals to be your most decisive shot?This will go down as one of the coolest days of my life. It’s been an emotional roller coaster for both teams and naturally we will be chasing that first trophy. It’s special to be in a place like Lord’s and have our friends and family around us. This is a memory that will stay with me forever.what do you think rajasthan royals‘Young opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi?To be fair, it was incredible to watch him. You try to think back to when I was 15, I thought if I could hit the ball to the boundary and score four runs that would be it. He got out in the IPL and scored six runs. He is completely fearless. You acknowledge it and respect it. I am sure he will have a great future and he will keep a lot of us cricket fans glued to the television.
