Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra showered praise on Aiden Markram after the right-hander scored a magnificent century on the third day of the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s on Friday.
Chasing 282 runs for the win, Markram scored an unbeaten knock of 102 runs off 159 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. The flamboyant batter batted at the top of his game to help the Proteas finish the third day’s play strongly at 213-2.
On stumps at Day 3, Markram added an unbeaten alliance of 143 runs with his captain Temba Bavuma. The South African captain is batting unbeaten on 65 despite batting with an injured hamstring.
Chopra said Markram reminds him of former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
“He is the only South African batter to score a hundred in an ICC men’s final. He became the third centurion in WTC final history. He is the first to score a hundred in the fourth innings,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“Let me put my hand up. I had said that the decision to bowl first after winning the toss wasn’t a good one because there would be fourth-innings pressure. 282 runs are a lot, but he dwarfed that total. His technical foundation is excellent. He reminds us a little of Jacques Kallis,” he added.
Meanwhile, Markram recently played for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025 and the renowned commentator said the SA opener had to unlearn his T20 batting for the WTC final.
“What would have been the difficulties for Aiden Markram? One, he was playing only T20 cricket for the last two months. So he had to unlearn his T20 habits and then focus on Test cricket. That’s a difficult job,” he said.
Chopra noted that Markram batted with a positive mindset after he was dismissed for a duck in the first innings.
“Secondly, he got out for zero in the first innings. That was also a problem. Wickets have fallen here with the new ball. If you see the first three innings, wickets had fallen with the new ball in every inning. He ensured that he came with a positive mindset,” Chopra observed.
South Africa needs 69 runs to win the WTC final with eight wickets in hand.
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