South Africa’s Aiden Markram completes 1000 runs in Test Cricket

South Africa’s Aiden Markram reached 1,000 runs in the Test arena after making his debut against Bangladesh in September last year. Markram was always dubbed as a future star in world cricket as after he led South Africa to lift their maiden U-19 Cricket World Cup in 2014 in the United Arab Emirates. In his debut game against Bangladesh at Potchefstroom, he fell three runs short of a well-deserved century.

Due to his superlative batting performances over the last six months, Markram has already cemented in the Test arena. In limited-overs cricket, he was appointed the captain of South Africa in the one-day series against India after Faf du Plessis was ruled out of the remaining games due to a finger injury.

It took only 18 innings for Markram to reach 1,000 runs in Test cricket. Former South African Captain Graeme Smith also achieved the milestone in 17 innings while AB De Villiers took 20 innings to complete the landmark. He completed the feat in 185 days, which is an also record for a South Africa batsman in the format.

Everton Weekes and Herbert Sutcliffe took 12 innings to complete 1,000 runs in Test cricket which is still a record. Markram is behind some of most illustrious names to have taken the cricket field. The list includes Len Hutton, Frank Worrell, Lawrence Row, Neil Harvey, Don Bradman, Everton Weekes and Graeme Smith.

Aiden Markram has certainly stood tall to the pressure of international cricket and played well in the home series against India. He was a standout performer with the bat in the four-match series against Australia and scored two centuries. He has scored 1,000 runs in 18 innings at an average of 55.55 with four centuries to his name.

Markram is currently placed at ninth spot in ICC Test Rankings for Batsmen after scoring over 400 runs in the four-match series against Australia.