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Graeme Smith. (Getty Images)
Markram's batting performance in the series wasn't good enough as he just got 127 runs from six innings. Smith hopes that has not affected Markram's confidence.
“I don’t think it was the right decision,” Smith was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “Everyone has been talking about his leadership. Probably coming from me that doesn’t make sense because I got given the job at a very young age. I think it was an interim thing, not a full-time thing. I would have rather have had him find his place, find his feet within the one-day set-up, try and get runs behind him. South Africa need players to step up and perform.
“I think in the short term, with AB coming in after three games he could have stepped in, and they could have looked at Duminy or Amla in the first couple and allowed someone like Markram just to settle. One, he was batting out of position at No. 4 at the start of the series, something he had to come to terms with, and then you’ve piled him under pressure not only on his own game but also as a captain. He would have gained a lot experience-wise but let’s just hope his confidence hasn’t taken a dent.
“His performances since the start of his career say that he can bat at this level. He’s obviously got the leadership credentials from Under-19, he’s spoken highly as a personality and as a person mature for his age. But I just think allowing him to grow and develop and become a strong player within the line-up, we are talking about the next-tier of cricketers. There’s a drop-off between maybe four or five senior players and the next tier. So, allow those guys to develop.
Smith was also critical of the performance of some of the senior players in the team. “What was disappointing for me was that I don’t think the other senior players stepped up around him – the Amlas, Duminys, Millers, those guys just never got it going from a performance perspective, an intensity perspective. They needed to get behind and lead the way almost.”
But having said that, Smith feels that the South African team can learn the right lesson from the loss, ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
“If the leadership strategically gets the thinking right, gets the tactics right and involves the right kinds of players, I think this can be a good thing for South Africa,” he said. “They’ve exposed a few more players to the international game, they have a few more players to look at and think okay, ‘how can I position that guy there, okay he looks like he might have something’ and they’ve had some exposure.
“In the long run, there’s still enough time for the World Cup to think this potentially could be a good thing. But that is only if Faf and Ottis [Gibson] and the selection panel get their head in the right place and strategically pick. Once the likes of de Villiers, Faf himself and de Kock are back fit, how do they put a line up together that’s going to win a World Cup.”
One the biggest problems that came to the fore for the Proteas was the way they handled the Indian wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The duo together picked up 33 wickets in the series, and the opposition batsmen had no plan B against them.
“You got to wonder what the chat was about in the changeroom and how they go about it,” Smith said. “Obviously two world-class spinners, Chahal and Kuldeep, excellent finds for India. It’s just great to see some spin come back into the game. The mystery spinners had left the game for a period of time – the Ajmals, Warnes, Muralitharans, there’s been a little bit of a gap. So, it’s great to see two guys like that come into the game, it makes the game really interesting to watch.
“South Africa really had no thought, no plan B or C. It was really just dot ball, dot ball, ‘okay let’s have a swing.’ There was no real plan, let’s try to build a partnership, it was almost like as the partnership builds it gets slightly easier and South Africa never found a way to do that.”
First Published: February 20, 2018, 10:57 AM IST
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