Sunrisers eye resurgence under new captain Markram

The Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise sports good look with strong batting lineup

Hyderabad: The 2016 Indian Premier League champions Sunrisers Hyderabad look for a turnaround under the new leadership of South Africa’s Aiden Markram. The franchise left out their former captain and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson in a surprise move ahead of auctions and named the South African as their leader.

Markram too has proved his mettle as a leader guiding the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to victory in the inaugural SA20 title and hopes to continue the same with SRH.

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Sunrisers are one of the consistent teams in the league reaching the knockouts six times since 2013. However, they finished last in the year 2021 and at a disappointing eighth out of 10 in the previous season.

But in the new season, the Sunrisers team sports a strong look after some crucial buys in the mini auctions. For a long time, the team has suffered from lack of strong middle order which turned out to be their Achilles heel. This time, they brought Mayank Agarwal bolsters the top order and added firepower to the middle order by buying England’s Harry Brooks. He comes with a high reputation with 2,432 runs from 99 T20s at a strike rate of 148.32 under his belt. With Mayank, Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi at the top and Markram, Brook, Glenn Phillips and Heinrich Klassen at their disposal, Sunrisers assembled a strong unit and looked like they finally sorted the middle-order woes. The presence of all-rounders like Washington Sundar extends the batting order.

However, the bench strength in the batting doesn’t inspire much as the domestic players lack experience of playing in T20s.

The bowling department has been one of the key contributors for the team’s success in the past defending small totals several times. Led-by swing merchant Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the presence of speedster Umran Malik, who made a name for himself in the previous year, T Natarajan, Kartik Tyagi and Marco Jansen lends a good mix to the unit. However, with only Sundar in the ranks, much of the spin responsibility has to be shouldered by Adil Rashid. But his place in the playing XI is not guaranteed, hence making the team look weak on the spin front.

The management also sacked coach Tom Moody and handed the responsibilities to batting great Brian Lara and the West Indian’s acumen can be a big boost.

With the home-and-away format returning after a three-year gap owing to Covid-19 crisis, the fans in Hyderabad are eager to see their favourite team in action at the home ground Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal.

Hyderabad will open their campaign against Rajasthan Royals with a home match on April 2.

Team: Aiden Markram (C), Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Samad, Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Akeal Hosein, Heinrich Klaasen, Anmolpreet Singh, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Mayank Dagar, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Schedule:

2 April: vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad (3:30 PM)

7 April: vs Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow (7:30 PM)

9 April: vs Punjab Kings in Hyderabad (7:30 PM)

14 April: vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata (7:30 PM)

18 April: vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad (7:30 PM)

21 April: vs Chennai Super Kings in Chennai (7:30 PM)

24 April: vs Delhi Capitals in Hyderabad (7:30 PM)

29 April: vs Delhi Capitals in Delhi (7:30 PM)

4 May: vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad (7:30 PM)

7 May: vs Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur (7:30 PM)

13 May: vs Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad (3:30 PM)

15 May: vs Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad (7:30 PM)

18 May: vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad (7:30 PM)

21 May: vs Mumbai Indians in Mumbai (3:30 PM)