The Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have named the South African batter, Aiden Markram as their new captain.
With Sunrisers Eastern Cape, SRH’s sister team, Markram has enjoyed great success and most recently guided them to win the first-ever SA20 championship.
Kane Williamson, who was ousted by the team and then joined the reigning champions Gujarat Titans (GT) at the IPL 2023 auction, will now be replaced by the 29-year-old. For a total of three seasons, Williamson was the franchise’s leader. There were quite a few candidates for the captaincy position with Mayank Agarwal being the frontrunner.
Markram did express interest in taking over as the new SRH captain in a statement prior to the SA20 final. He said, “What’s going to happen, to be honest. Either way, we back the management’s decision about who they want to be in charge. Becoming the captain is not the be-all and end-all. You can be in some form of leadership role too. But I am okay with captaincy, it’s something that I enjoy doing. I have been captaining for a while before this tournament started. It’s been a nice experience, a fresh start, I would say.”
Last season, Markram averaged 47.63 runs per game for SRH across 14 games. The South African batter scored a hundred against Joburg Super Kings in the semi-final to assist his team in advancing to the final, where they beat Pretoria Capitals to win the SA20 championship.