'It was a logical progression,' says Proteas white-ball coach Walter on Markram's leadership case

Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter said Aiden Markram's leadership capabilities meant he would get back into a leadership role sooner rather than later.

Markram, who won the 2014 Under-19 World Cup as captain and was appointed as the leader of the T20 team on Monday, had his first leadership foray against India in 2018.

That was a rough experience for Markram, who averaged just 21.16 with the bat, scoring only 127 runs through the series as South Africa were thumped 5-1.

Markram continued to feature regularly in the ODI setup but only made his T20 debut in 2019 and took an immediate liking to it.

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Walter, who worked with Markram at the Titans before he departed for New Zealand to coach the Otago Volts and later on, the Central Districts Stags, said Markram's progression to the national team leadership box was always a logical one.

Markram not only captained the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to their SA20 success last month but also earned the Sunrisers Hyderabad leadership for the Indian Premier League in the process.

Walter said Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma, who relinquished the T20 captaincy, was certainly not out of the running.

"Aiden has shown himself to be a leader over some time now, with his most recent success being with the Sunrisers," Walter said.

"It seemed like a logical progression into the national team's leadership, and he's been there before. He's matured a lot as a player and a leader since then.

"Aiden's been a leader in the group for a long time, but for Temba missing out, it was purely a T20 performance-based decision.

"My job is to work with him to get him back into the team again, which will be one of our focuses."

Walter said