After missing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023's opening tie against Rajasthan Royals (RR) Aiden Markram returned to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday (April 7).
Markram missed the opening match due to International commitments as he was busy playing ODI series Netherlands. In Markram's absence pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the Orange Army in the match against RR, which they lost by 72 runs.
However, the regular SRH skipper made his first appearance in the sixteenth edition of the glitzy league against LSG to break a weird toss trend. In the 10th match of the IPL 2023, Markram became the first skipper to elect to bat first after winning the toss. Till ninth game, every skipper followed the same trend and elected to bowl first after winning the flip of the coin.
"The wicket looks quite dry. Hopefully, we can put up a good total. Everyone seems in good spirits and full of energy. Since we are batting first, Anmolpreet Singh will start," Markram said after winning the toss.
Markram is coming into the tournament with red-hot form as he recently scored a blistering 175 against the Netherlands for South Africa in the ODIs.
The 28-year-old also guided Sunrisers Eastern Cape to recently concluded SA20 title in South Africa.
Meanwhile, India's star batter Virender Sehwag said that to lead SRH in the IPL 2023 will be a test for Markram.
"Aiden Markram will be tested as captain as he will be leading in the IPL for the first time. He has won the T20 league in South Africa, but this could be a different test. They have many match-winners in their team, but the key is to ensure they play together as a unit,” Sehwag said.
"Whenever an overseas player captains an IPL team, he doesn't have a lot of idea about the domestic players. Now Markram is directly coming to play a game. So not sure how much he knows about the domestic players. The information that the team management gives him now will be crucial," he added.
Talking about the match, Markram failed to make his first match of IPL 2023 as a skipper memorable as he was dismissed for a golden duck in the eighth over by Krunal Pandya.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh(w), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Harry Brook, Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Adil Rashid.
Subs: Heinrich Klaasen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mayank Markande, Mayank Dagar, Marco Jansen
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Amit Mishra, Yash Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi.
Subs: Ayush Badoni, Swapnil Singh, Daniel Sams, Prerak Mankad, Avesh Khan
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