"He and I got on really well" - Aiden Markram on who among Mayank Agarwal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could be his vice-captain at SRH in IPL 2023

Newly-appointed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Aiden Markram opened up on who could be his deputy in the IPL 2023 season. SRH had quite a few captaincy options with the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar capable of bringing some much-needed experience to the role.

However, they have stuck to the captain of their SA20 franchise in Markram. This decision could have been influenced by the fact that the Sunrisers Eastern cape won the inaugural edition of the SA20 under Markram's leadership.

During a press conference organized to discuss the success of the inaugural edition of the SA20, Aiden Markram was asked who among Mayank Agarwal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could be his deputy. He said:

"That's a tough one. I played under Mayank at the Kings. He and I got on really well. And if you look at the amount of experience someone like Bhuvi has, it is almost unreplaceable. So, to pick one would be difficult right now but I think both of them would nail it certainly."

Apart from having a new captain, SRH also have a new head coach in legendary Brian Lara. The West Indies legend was the side's batting coach last season and has now replaced former coach Tom Moody.

Speaking about his bond with Lara, Aiden Markram added:

"We worked together briefly when he was the batting coach and we got along really well. We will be seeing each other a lot during the Test series against West Indies and that’s where we will start our discussion on the brand of cricket that we want to play.

"I am sure we will be on the same page as we want to play a nice attacking brand of cricket where the players have the freedom to express themselves."

Aiden Markram on Sunrisers eastern Cape's turnaround

After losing their first three games in SA20, very few could have predicted that the Sunrisers Eastern Cape would go on to win the title. But they managed to turn things around under Aiden Markram's captaincy.

Responding to a query from Sportskeeda, here's what Markam said about the team management and culture:

"Look, the turnaround like that is not on me at all as I think it is credit to the staff and team management for keeping us nice and calm and understanding that all are here for a reason and that reason is that all of them are good players."

He added:

"We know that in T20 cricket, things can turn around pretty quickly and that’s the benefit we had as a team. Great character was shown by the guys after the initial two losses to Pretoria and the reaction shown by them made my life as a captain quite easier."

Only time will tell if Aiden Markram can replicate his success with SA20 with SRH in the IPL.