Virat Kohli predicted Aiden Markram's future 7 years ago. Old tweet resurfaces after South Africa opener hits WTC ton

Hindustan Times

14 hours ago

Virat Kohli is a man of many talents. Predicting the future isn't one of them. Or is it? Fans started to double-check after Kohli's seven-year-old tweet on Aiden Markram resurfaced after the South African batter played one of the best knocks of his career to bring the Proteas inches closer to their maiden World Test Championship title and the first ICC trophy in nearly 30 years. The last time South Africa won an ICC tournament was back in 1998, lifting the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh. They still need 72 runs to beat Australia but with eight wickets in hand, including that of a rock-solid Markram, batting on 102, it looks ever so likely that South Africa will bring an end to their long wait for an ICC trophy.
Kohli's admiration for South African batters is nothing new. Legendary South African cricketer AB de Villiers is one of his best friends on and off the field. Of course, it helped that they played together for RCB for more than a decade, forming one of the most beautiful cross-border bonds that cricket has seen but it's no coincidence that Kohli's favourite captain is another South African, Faf du Plessis.
During the all-captains meeting before the start of the 2019 ODI World Cup, Kohli was asked to pick one cricketer from any participating team in that World Cup that he would pick to play for his side, and he had no hesitation in naming du Plessis. It was therefore no surprise when RCB bought him in the auction and also named him captain after Kohli decided to step down in 2021.
Markram is the latest addition to Kohli's fondness for South African batters. Markram, who made his Test and ODI debut in 2017, drew Kohli's attention a year later. He had already hit three Test centuries, but it was his 84-run knock in the second innings of the Test match at Cape Town against Australia that really caught Kohli's eye.
"Aiden Markram is a delight to watch!" wrote Kohli on X (then Twitter).
Seven years and three months later, the same tweet went viral when Markram put South Africa on the brink of the WTC title.
In pursuit of 282, which currently stands as the second highest successful fourth innings chase in a Test at Lord's, an unbroken third-wicket stand of 143 took the Proteas to the close on 213 for two, requiring a further 69 to be crowned champions.
Australia had earlier looked to hold the upper hand after Mitchell Starc's gritty half-century extended their overnight lead, while the seamer later took the two South African wickets to fall.
But Markram, who will resume on 102, and Bavuma, dropped on two by Steve Smith, played brilliantly to raise South African hopes of a first ICC trophy since 1998.
Markram survived a heart-in-mouth moment on 23, nicking a Cummins delivery between the keeper and first slip. Since then, the South African opener grew in confidence.
Makram hit 11 fours in his fluent knock, scoring a strike rate of 102 off 159 balls. He got to his century with a flick off his pads that raced away to the boundary right at the fag end of Day 3.
Did Kohli predict something like this for Aiden Markram? He certainly could not have but as they say, class is permanent and Kohli, like most other greats of the game, identified that very early.