South African batter Aiden Markram has made a return to SunRisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) playing XI for their crucial Qualifier 2 clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2024, held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, May 24.
Markram, who played the first nine games of the season, was dropped due to a series of lackluster performances. However, the 2016 champions have reintroduced the right-handed batter for this pivotal knockout fixture, aiming to secure a spot in the IPL 2024 final. SRH has opted to bolster their batting lineup by replacing Vijayakanth Viyaskanth with Markram.
Markram has accumulated 199 runs in nine innings this season, averaging 28.42 with a strike rate of 130.92. As the stakes are higher, the 29-year-old will be eager to deliver a standout performance in this decisive match.
RR Win the Toss and Elect to Field First in Qualifier 2
Rajasthan Royals’ captain Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to field first. SRH skipper Pat Cummins admitted he would have preferred to bowl first as well.
At the toss, Cummins stated:
“We probably would have had a bowl. We have batted well first this season, much of the same hopefully. The guys will be aggressive, it’s not going to work every time, we are going to lose some wickets. We were well below our best a couple of days ago in Ahmedabad. Another chance tonight, much of the same. (Bowling) It’s an ongoing discussion, this ground is a little bit bigger. We’ve got (Jaydev) Unadkat coming back in the team as well to strengthen it. Aiden Markram comes in for Vijayakanth (Viyaskanth).”
Playing XIs for Qualifier 2:
SunRisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Reddy, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan.
Impact Subs: Umran Malik, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed.
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Impact Subs: Shimron Hetmyer, Nandre Burger, Shubham Dubey, Donovan Ferreira, Kuldeep Sen.
Can Aiden Markram turn the tide for SRH in this all-important clash? Stay tuned as the action unfolds in what promises to be an exciting contest!