Markram's Midas touch could hand Proteas first ever World Cup

When South Africa tied the match against Australia in the infamous 1999 World Cup semifinal and got knocked out as a result, Aiden Markram would have been four years old.

The South African T20I captain perhaps doesn't have any memories of the tournament after which the dreaded 'chokers' tag was put on their backs.

The Proteas would go on to play in four more semifinals after that - two in the 2007 and 2015 ODI World Cups, and two more in the 2009 and 2014 T20 World Cups.

He was, however, part of the team in the ODI World Cup that lost in the semifinal against Australia. 

But, Markram was also the captain that led South Africa to their first and only Under-19 World Cup in 2014. 

In that tournament, the 29-year-old was earmarked to be the batting mainstay for South African cricket for years to come.

While he made his national team debut three years later in 2017, he has had a start-stop career and has not really lived up to his initial billing with the bat.

As captain, and in World Cups though, he has had quite the golden touch and has won 16 out of 16 games where he has captained. 

He won six out of six games in the U-19 World Cup as captain, two out of two as stand-in captain in the 2023 ODI World Cup and eight out of eight in the T20 World Cup so far.

So it's perhaps safe to say, that the failures of the previous South African teams, which arguably had bigger names such as Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and AB de Villers, did not weigh him down.

The 'chokers' tag as well, hasn't bogged him, or this team down so far it seems, which is perhaps why this Proteas outfit managed to win a semifinal in a World Cup after seven failed attempts. 

Whatever the reason may be, the stars have aligned for South Africa in this T20 World Cup with things going their way in crunch moments, and at times Markram was at the forefront of it.

The catch to dismiss Mahmudullah Riyad in the four-run win over Bangladesh was the turning point in the match for South Africa in the final over.

Then there was an even better catch of Harry Brook in the Super 8 match against England, which proved to be the decisive wicket in the final over in a seven-run win.

The captain has not only been ice-cool with his catching but also his overall captaincy.

Trusting Ottneil Baartman in the final over, where he needed to defend seven runs against Nepal in what was Baartman's first-ever World Cup also took guts and it paid off as the Proteas won by just one run.

Bringing himself on to bowl against West Indies in the must-win final Super 8 match was also another move that worked as the pitch aided spin and Markram bowled four overs for 28 runs and one wicket.

While credit goes to Markram for his captaincy, the bowlers and other fielders also deserve credit for executing those plans to perfection. 

The only blemish for the right-handed batter would perhaps be a lack of runs with the bat and good form with it, but he seemed to be getting back among the runs as he scored 23 not out from 21 balls and helped South Africa win by nine wickets on a poor pitch in the semifinal against Afghanistan.

Markram's trust in his bowlers like Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen and Tabraiz Shamsi - three players who can be expensive and wayward at times and didn't come into the tournament in the best of form - has also paid dividends as they have all come up with 'Player of the match' performances from time to time so far. 

The man from Centurion may not be the loudest or most commanding of captains, something many associate with Graeme Smith - one of South Africa's finest and most successful captains - but he seems to exude calm and composure to a team, especially in clutch moments.

No team has won more close encounters than South Africa and one feels the captain to finally win South Africa a senior men's World Cup will be the one that won them the U-19 World Cup.

That day could just end up being on Saturday in the final.