South Africa’s two-Test series against Pakistan will be led by Aiden Markram, who has quietly issued an open challenge to Pakistan to utilise as much home advantage as they like. The all-format series between South Africa and Pakistan is slated to start on October 12.
Leading South Africa without regular captain Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram invited Pakistan to take advantage of the home field.
“You can essentially prepare any pitch you want if it’s your home game. Therefore, there aren’t any doubts on my end. According to Cricbuzz, Markram said, “You should be able to use home-ground advantage to help your team win a game of cricket.”
At the High Performance Centre in Pretoria, he also provided a good overview of the decks the South Africans were using for practice. Aiden Markram claims that while the players attempted to replicate what could be available, the ground crew did their best to make the pitches as similar to Pakistan as possible.
Three throws in particular are spinning a lot. Of the three, two are incredibly overdone. While still providing strong spin, the slightly more intermediate one is a little bit easier to bat on. Then there is a single, somewhat typical strip in the centre. In an attempt to make the ball squat low, we’ve tried to keep it as dead as possible, but it’s not always that simple. Although it’s challenging to accomplish that on the Highveld, we’ve made every effort to tick all the boxes’, he continued.
The top-order batsman stated that he was not overly concerned about the pitches in Pakistan because they would cause problems for the hosts as well if they behaved in an extreme manner, like they did during the three-match series against England last year.
“From a batting perspective, it will be challenging for both teams if it is going to be as severe as it was in the England series. Regardless of the circumstances, we must be content with what we have and support whoever is in charge that day to finish the work.
“I don’t care too much about it,” Aiden Markram said.
Before travelling to Pakistan, South Africa will play a one-time Twenty20 International against Namibia. Their teams for the T20I and ODI portions of the multi-format series against Pakistan have not yet been revealed.
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