Cairns [Australia]. August 16 (ANI): As South Africa plays Australia in a crucial decider third T20I, all eyes will be on skipper Aiden Markram to overcome his barren run of form, not having hit a half-century since October 2022.

The series between Australia and South Africa is currently level at 1-1. Markram has not performed well as an opener in the series, managing scores of 12 and 18.

Markram last hit a T20I fifty during the ICC T20 World Cup against India at Perth, scoring a match-winning 52 while chasing 134.

Since then in 30 T20Is, Markram has scored just 555 runs at an average of 21.34 and a strike rate of 138.40, with best score of 49 across 30 innings. He has touched the 20-run mark only 11 times since his last T20I fifty.

His T20I figures since then, though, are solid enough, scoring 2,513 runs at an average of 27.92, strike rate of over 133. He has scored a century and 13 fifties with a best score of 100 in 104 innings.

This year, he had a solid Indian Premier League (IPL) for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as an opener, with 445 runs in 13 matches at an average of 34.23, a strike rate of 148.82, with five fifties in 13 innings and a best score of 66.

Ahead of the third T20I, Markram confirmed that he will continue opening for the next six months leading up to the T20 World Cup, to have destructive batters like Lhuan-Dre Pretorious and Ryan Rickelton to feature prominently in the top order.

'Going through our squads and (looking at) the players that we have got around, we think that is the best fit,' said Markram as quoted by cricket.com.au

'We have got some guys in the middle order that are really destructive, a lot more destructive than myself.'

'And we feel it is better off for me and Ricks (Rickelton) to be up top.

'I did it a bit at the IPL, I am starting to do it now again at international cricket. It is an exciting role. It is nice to be able to bat in the Powerplay,' he concluded.

Markram does have a poor record while opening, scoring just 56 runs in five innings, with the best score of 18.

South Africa T20 squad: Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenelan Subrayen, Rassie van der Dussen

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Owen (out with concussion), Matthew Short (out with injury), Adam Zampa. (ANI)