The three-Test South Africa series is the first of a gruelling 2018-19 season that includes tours to England and Australia.
"It was tough up front, the Sri Lanka bowlers didn't give us much to work with," Markram told reporters.
Vishwa Fernando bagged four wickets as Sri Lanka took the honours on day one of the first Test against South Africa by reducing their hosts to 235 all out at Kingsmead on Wednesday.
Images from the Day 2 of the second Test at Newlands on Saturday.
Seamer Duanne Olivier completed an 11-wicket match haul as South Africa roared back into contention in the first Test
Dean Elgar scored an unbeaten century but an excellent spell of bowling from Australia seamer Pat Cummins restricted South Africa to 266 for eight at the close of play on the opening day of the third Test at Newlands on Thursday.
The 28-year-old Starc finished with a match haul of nine for 109, enabling him to overtake South Africa's new-ball bowlers Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander among others, eclipsing his previous best sixth position that he enjoyed in December 2016.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the rescheduled 5th Test between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday.
Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada claimed four wickets each as South Africa ripped out Sri Lanka for 110 on the second day of the second Test.
South Africa have named uncapped batsman Theunis de Bruyn in their injury-hit squad for the three-match home Test series against Sri Lanka that starts on December 26.
Mayank Agarwal notched up his second hundred in as many Tests and combined with Cheteshwar Pujara to set up a platform for India to post a big first-innings total against South Africa in the second Test.
Batting all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy realised his dream of playing international cricket for South Africa on Wednesday and could not be happier that his debut is against the country of his origin, India.
Whether he is batting in the middle or fielding at the boundary line, Virat Kohli's every move will be tracked, though some of that attention will now be on skipper K L Rahul.
With the national selection committee and the team management deciding to promote Rohit as an opener, keeping his spunky strokeplay in mind, the next five Tests could be a make or break for the 32-year-old stylish right-hander.
New England captain Joe Root rode his luck to make a battling unbeaten 184 and lift the hosts to a commanding 357 for five on the opening day of the first Test against South Africa at Lord's in London on Thursday.
Images from Day 2 of the third Test between South Africa and India, in Cape Town, on Wednesday.
Du Plessis had a tough time in 2015, scoring just 60 runs in seven innings.
Jimmy Anderson put England in firm control on the second day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday, with his four wickets leaving South Africa trailing by 142 runs with just one first-innings wicket remaining.
'In a way, making me feel that we are responsible. I was quite upset about that. I don't know what else I can say, I was pretty upset. It's done and dusted now, nothing happened, there were no fines given or anything like that'
After Stokes's heroics with the bat had helped England score 330 for six in their 50 overs, South Africa needed 10 runs from the last 10 balls of their innings with five wickets remaining, but an excellent final over from Wood that cost just four runs sealed victory.
Faced with the prospect of a humiliating 0-3 series whitewash, a desperate India would be aiming to bounce back to winning ways against an unrelenting South Africa in the third and final Test, starting in Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
Kagiso Rabada claimed a six-wicket haul on Thursday as South Africa bowled Sri Lanka out for 224 in their second innings to win the second Test by 282 runs with a day and a half to spare and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Sri Lanka failed to last the first session of the fourth day at Newlands, having resumed on 130-4 and being dismissed after just over 100 minutes of play.
IMAGES from Day 5 of the 2nd Test played at Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Needing 392 runs to avoid the follow-on, after the South Africans posted a mammoth 542 in their first innings, the hosts were shot out for a meagre 204 in 66.3 overs in their first essay, conceding a huge lead of 338 runs.
India's formidably consistent match-winners have a date with history in the New Year when they take on an out-of-sorts South Africa in the second Test in Johannesburg from Monday in pursuit of a coveted first-ever series win in the Rainbow Nation.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 1st Test played between South Africa and India at Centurion on Sunday.
Indian cricket team stands a chance of making big gains in terms of International Cricket Council (ICC) Test ranking if they manage to register a 3-1 victory over Australia in their ongoing four-match series.
England ended a well contested first day of the fourth and final Test against South Africa on 260 for six with the late loss of Ben Stokes giving heart to the tourists.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
For someone who smashed 1000 first-class runs in a month's domestic cricket in the 2017-18 season, it shouldn't come as a surprise that a heavy duty scorer like Mayank Agarwal knows a thing or two about the art of conversion, believes Cheteshwar Pujara.
Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock's showing represented an important turning point for South Africa's relatively inexperienced batting line-up as they head into an important summer that also includes a home Test series against England.
India captain Virat Kohli remained in second spot behind Steve Smith while Alastair Cook jumped nine places to be eighth in the latest ICC Test rankings after his unbeaten double century in the ongoing Ashes.
Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson has labelled the Decision Review System (DRS) as a `failure` after all-rounder Mitchell Marsh's controversial leg before dismissal during the opening Test of the three-match series against South Africa at the WACA Ground in Perth. The incident took place on the fifth day of the first Test when Marsh was originally given not out after he was struck low on the pads of a Kagiso Rabada delivery. However, the decision was over-turned when the ball-tracking technology showed it to be hitting more than 50 per cent of Marsh's leg stump and he was sent back to the pavilion.
England must chase down a world-record 474 to win the second Test while South Africa have two full days to bowl them out after the tourists' batsmen provided the strongest possible platform for victory on the third day in Nottingham on Sunday.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the fourth Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg on Monday
IMAGES from Day 3 of the fourth Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Images from the first One-Day International between South Africa and India, in Paarl, on Wednesday.
Australia moved one wicket from victory in the first Test against South Africa on Sunday after Mitchell Starc's swing bowling decimated the hosts' lower order and dampened their hopes of an unlikely recovery.
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Bangladesh and South Africa, in Abu Dhabi.
Virat Kohli's talismanic presence will be the shot in the arm that India would need in their bid to win the historic first-ever away Test series against South Africa.
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