Prior to the commencement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, the Sunrisers Hyderabad had a tough task ahead – finding the leader of the pack. Following the release of Kane Williamson, the idea was to revamp the side that has been sluggish in the past few seasons. The hat was put on Aiden Markram who had recently led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a maiden title win in the inaugural edition of the SA20. The decision-makers certainly found a new commander of the ‘Orange Army’, but it turns out, Markram has been off the mark.
It has been another topsy-turvy season for the franchise in the IPL 2023. Half of the tournament is done but they are to find the right balance to the side. In seven games, they have managed to win just 2 and are tottering in the 9th position on the points table. With another seven games left, Markram and his boys have nowhere but to look up and the process starts, they would hope, when they face Delhi Capitals (DC) on Saturday evening at Kotla.
IPL 2023 Points Table: Check Team Standings, Team Points, Wins, Losses
It’s a battle of the equals – two bottom-placed teams fighting each other to rise up on the tally. Both of them have a couple of victories each and they are aware of the fact that they are now entering a crucial phase of the tournament where they have to tick all the boxes and win matches or else, it’s the dead end.
Ahead of the DC encounter, a nervous Markram addressed the pre-match presser and shared his experience of leading the SRH in the IPL 2023. Replying to News18 Cricketnext, the South African cricketer said he is hoping to get some continuity from here on and thus, keeping his fingers crossed.
“The experience [of captaincy] has been incredible, very different from international cricket. It’s awesome to be involved in small things and it’s always an honour and privilege to captain any team you play for, and it has been no different with the Sunrisers. It’s a great bunch of guys and a legendary coaching staff,” Markram replied to a Cricketnext query.
“Ultimately, it’s a big competition and in the sports industry, you are judged on the basis of performance and results. When you don’t do well, those are probably the biggest challenges that you’re going to face but we have to try to pass that as a team and make sure that we are still on the right track. It might not happen overnight. If we can get some form of continuity, the way that we want to play in the brand of cricket that we’d like to play as a team. I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he added.
Changing and chopping hasn’t helped
SRH has not been able to find the right balance so far and one of the reasons is too much shuffling in the line-up. The skipper admitted that excessive changing and chopping hasn’t worked in the team’s favour.
“It’s been a difficult one. Because we’ve had a solid pool of players,” Markram told the reporters.
“Hopefully, in the last seven games, we will find the right balance in terms of the players and the combinations will turn around our season, starting from Saturday. We’re trying to free guys up and get them to express themselves as best as they can. So I felt we were slightly conservative with our approach,” he added.
IPL 2023: Orange Cap Complete List of Batters with Most Runs, Check here
Sundar being ruled out a massive loss
Young all-rounder Washington Sundar was on Thursday ruled out of the remaining season with a hamstring injury, leaving a massive void in the team which is already struggling. However, when asked about his replacement, Markram said he has no clue about it.
IPL 2023: Purple Cap Complete List of Batters with Most Runs, Check here
“In terms of replacement, I’ve not been involved in any of those, so I’m not too sure what’s happening regarding that. But it’s a massive loss, we all know the quality of Washi and the experience he brings. It’s not very easy to just replace a player like him but you still have to be confident in the players that we have in our squad and give them a fair chance,” he said.
Sundar has played seven matches so far and picked up three wickets at an average of 48.66 and an economy of 8.26. With the bat, he managed 60 runs.
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