Aiden Markram’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 captaincy debut got off to a horrific start. For the first time in his T20 career, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain has been dismissed for a golden duck. Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya uprooted Markram’s off-stump to achieve this feat against Markram.
Having scored a record-breaking 175-run knock against Netherlands in a must-win ODI, Markram was high on confidence. He walked out to bat at no.4 after opener Anmolpreet Singh lost his wicket in the eighth over. He went for a drive but played down the wrong line as the ball crashed into his off-stump.
Before this, Markram had been dismissed for a duck only once in his T20 career.
Earlier, Markram who did not play SRH’s first game due to national commitments won the toss and opted to bat first at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. The Proteas batter became the first captain in IPL 2023 to win the toss and opt to bat first.
“The wicket looks dry. Ideally we will get to our first win. The guys are looking excited. There are two changes. One of them is me,” he said after winning the toss.
He decided to go into the game with just three overseas players in the playing eleven including himself, Harry Brook and Adil Rashid. However, he kept three overseas players -- Heinrich Klaasen, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Marco Jansen -- in the list of five players out of which one can be used as an impact player.
Pandya was exceptional in his first spell. KL Rahul introduced him in the third over and he took the wicket of opener Mayank Agarwal. In his next over, he was hit for two consecutive fours by Anmolpreet. He had the last laugh as he trapped Anmolpreet in front of the stumps. The opener scored 31 runs from 26 deliveries including three fours and one six. In his first three overs, he conceded 17 runs and picked up three wickets. He came back to bowl in the 16th over. He conceded just one run against set batters Washington Sundar and Rahul Tripathi.
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