Cricket in 2018: Team wise top batsman in Tests

3. Aiden Markram – South Africa:

The first South African ever to lead a team to win a World Cup at any level, 24-year-old Aiden Markram has come of age quite fast and is one of the major pillars of the Proteas batting order. Though his opening partner Dean Elgar is ranked three places ahead of him (ranked 11th) in the ICC’s list of best Test batsmen at the moment, Markram still had a productive 2018 with over 670 runs in 10 matches with two magnificent hundreds (143 and 152) scored at home against the Australians in the infamous series early this year.

The transformation of Markram, from a successful U19 captain to scorer of Test hundred within just three years time, is phenomenal. In the first two years in Test cricket, the young opener has not only picked four hundreds but has also shown his mettle in a number of games, giving the Proteas enough hope of emerging as a true successor to the likes of Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith. Markram has shown a rock-solid temperament in his batting which guarantees a long way up for him in the longer format in the years to come.