5 min readFeb 20, 2026 06:18 PM IST
Under the mellow Ahmedabad sun, Aiden Markram and Lungi Ngidi strode out, stretching their stiff sinews when a groundsman in a wooden cart stopped and waved at them. They waved him back with a curious smile. Having spent nearly a fortnight in the city, playing three of their four group-stage games here including the heart-stopper against Afghanistan, they have struck a warm familiarity with the groundsmen and attendants.
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Markram did not linger around the square, pitch gazing, the first line of action overseas captains dutifully perform here. Maybe, pitch-brooding in T20Is is a pointless chore, unlike in the longer formats. Maybe, he is suitably acquainted with the moods and pulse of the surface, its bends and corners. Maybe, he feels at home, even though the venues in South Africa are less of a concrete maze than the Narendra Modi Stadium. Maybe, he and his team have developed a sense of fondness after the great escape against Afghanistan here. Nothing forges bonds than a crisis.
The twin super-over scare against Afghanistan has toughened them up, even unburdened them from the long torment of near misses. The nail-biter has stirred them to a state of enjoying the game and the moments without overthinking about the outcomes. “You want to win games like that,” captain Markram later said. “It does a lot for the change-room, for the vibe and the atmosphere in the sheds.”
South Africa emits happy vibes. Markram always walks with a smile; the coach Shukri Conrad is just a nudge away from a chuckle. Laughter rattled in an intense but not nervous training session. Kagiso Rabada, striving for rhythm, was bantering with his pace buddy Lungi Ngidi. The normally grim Anrich Nortje joined them, before they marked their run-ups and bowled full-throttle. In stepped Markram, who requested them to move aside so that he could sharpen his off-break, a resourceful weapon against India’s left-hand heavy batting order. Batting coach Ashwell Prince, once the prince of hard grind, took guard. He spat a few past his outside edge.
The memories of last World Cup final in Bridgetown might linger in the innards of the mind, but Markram and his colleagues appear utterly relaxed outside. In another corner of their mind would be redemption, a theme that resonates with the team’s towering personalities. Markram was a one-time top order wunderkind who flatlined for a fair spell, before he emerged from the rubbles, resurrected his career across formats and became their T20 captain.
His batting was once an ensemble of jarring parts; now it’s symphonic. He understands his batting, its flaws and forte, like never before. “It’s about finding out how you do it yourself. Slowly but surely, I feel like I’m starting to understand that. I don’t think I’ll ever be a proper slogger. I think I need to do it a bit differently maybe to other guys, but with the intent to still get the team off to a good start,” he said, after cracking 86 not out off 44 balls against New Zealand.
His partner Quinton de Kock, upon his return from self-imposed exile last year, had batted with the air of a guy with nothing to lose. He has solved the puzzles that had chained him—fatigue, calendar scramble and less time for family and fishing, his favourite pastime. Since his return in the middle of last year, he has averaged 32 (similar to his overall average) but at a considerably better hitting rate (167.79 to 142.01). In the series against India last year, he carved 65 off 35 balls on the very same ground.
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A polished batting pair, with orthodox fundamentals and new-age mindset to dominate bowlers, they are a ferocious pair. The men that follow them are stuffed with the power, a quartet of uninhibited hitters. David Miller, the crowd favourite of Ahmedabad in his Gujarat Titans days, cornerstones a pugnacious middle order that features Ryan Rickleton, a former weightlifter who does batting heavy-lifting, Dewald Brevis, nicknamed “Baby AB” for his 360-degree canvas, and Tristan Stubbs, a potent destroyer of spin bowling. Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch are capable of employing the long handle. There is reassuring clarity too. Asked about the guiles of Varun Chakaravarthy, Brevis replied: “He’s a spin bowler, so I will play him like a spinner; watch the ball and react to it.”
The all-round depth bewilders; six of their first-choice eleven could bowl; eight of them could bat. All are terrific fielders. Maybe, the smiles originate from self-awareness. South African troops of the past had more gifted individuals, but self-doubts seemed to prevent them from fully blossoming and deny their quest of winning an ICC white-ball trophy. The dream remains unfulfilled, but they have in their mantle piece the ICC mace; recently they hammered India at home in a Test series. They know they have individuals to overpower India on their day, even in the backdrop of a blue tidal wave of supporters. There’s every reason to believe that this current crop could end the cycle of pain.
Thus, they are smiling, and perhaps they know destiny would smile back at them too.
