For the 16th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), starting March 31, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have named South African batter Aiden Markram as their new captain.
Earlier this year, Markram achieved tremendous success with the SRH's sister franchise, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and led them to the inaugural SA 20 title.
Ahead of IPL 2023, SRH batter Mayank Agarwal has showered rich praise on Markram, calling the latter a genuinely great guy who has a very happy and relaxed vibe around him.
"He is a great guy. Apart from being a fantastic cricketer, he is a great guy. So that tells you a lot about him. I call him the machine, and that's for a reason. Somebody who works really, really hard on his game, who really thinks a lot about his game, and who is genuinely a great guy, and who has a very happy and relaxed vibe around him," said Agarwal in a video posted by the franchise on Youtube.
"I'm really looking forward to playing under him because we had a bond when we played for Punjab. I'm really looking forward to building on that when we play now for SRH," he added.
Under Mayank Agarwal’s captaincy, Punjab Kings endured a dismal IPL 2022 campaign. They finished the league stage in the sixth position, having won just 7 out of their 14 matches. He also had a tough time with the bat in the last IPL edition, amassing only 196 runs from 12 innings at an abysmal average of 16.33.
Following that, Agarwal was released by PBKS and SRH signed him for a hefty sum of INR 8.25 Crore in the mini-auction last December.
In the video, Mayank also recalled his Test debut for India against Australia at the iconic MCG in 2018. On debut, the right-handed opener produced knocks of 76 and 42 as India won by 137 runs.
"Simply put, in a few words I felt like I said that before. I think that it was about 80-odd thousand people on the first day and we batted first. I just felt like a gladiator in between there. The massive stadium with so much history. The series on the line. It was 1-1," he said.
"I was very happy and got right into the action. I really enjoyed it. I know the heartbeat was like real fast, but once I played a couple of overs, I really got into it. Then I got into the rhythm and once I got into the rhythm, it just kept flowing," he further stated.
Agarwal also shared the feeling of being part of the Indian team that won Test tours of Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
"I think it's an amazing place to play cricket. The kind of intensity with which they play, how hard they play cricket, is something that I admire. So, when we were there, and when we won there, that feeling is indescribable. Like, I cannot express like..a lot of people and a lot of players, a lot of countries have gone there and played some really good cricket and for us to go there and win it twice in two tours now," he said.
"Being a part of both two tours is a phenomenal feeling. It's just not so much happiness, you feel really proud that you've contributed to the historic moments in Indian cricket in whichever way. But just the feeling of having contributed to India winning in Australia is just a phenomenal feeling," he concluded.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will open their IPL 2023 campaign against Rajasthan Royals on April 2.
(IANS Inputs)
