Aiden Markram Appointed as Captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2023 Season
South African cricketer Aiden Markram has been named as the new captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season. Markram takes over the captaincy from Kane Williamson, who was released by the franchise after the last season. Markram was also a member of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape franchise, which recently won the inaugural edition of the SA20 T20 League. The announcement of Markram's appointment was made on SRH's social media account on February 23.
Markram was preferred over Mayank Agarwal, who was bought for Rs 8.5 crore by SRH, to be the new skipper. The Protea player had a successful IPL 2022 season, scoring 381 runs at an average of 47.63 and a strike-rate of over 139, including three half-centuries. In the SA20 League, Markram scored 366 runs from 12 matches with one century and one half-century, making him the third-highest run-getter in the tournament.
Markram expressed his interest in becoming the new SRH captain before the SA20 League final. He said that he has experience as a captain and enjoys doing it. He also added that leadership is not just about captaincy and that he is willing to take up any leadership role offered by the management.
There were speculations that Mayank Agarwal could be named the new captain of SRH. However, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that SRH should not consider Agarwal as the new skipper. Agarwal was released by Punjab Kings after a disappointing season as their captain, replacing KL Rahul in 2022. He was bought by SRH for Rs 8.25 crore in the IPL 2023 auction.
The SRH squad for the IPL 2023 season includes Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Anmolpreet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, and Mayank Dagar.
THE. WAIT. IS. OVER. ⏳#OrangeArmy, say hello to our new captain Aiden Markram 🧡#AidenMarkram #SRHCaptain #IPL2023 | @AidzMarkram pic.twitter.com/3kQelkd8CP
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) February 23, 2023