Is it time for Sunrisers Hyderabad to replace South African batsman Aiden Markram with New Zealand superstar Glenn Phillips? Yes, it seems so. In a season of the IPL where people are batting at a strike rate of 170-180, Markram’s strike rate in this IPL is 130, and he hasn’t played any impactful innings so far.
It hasn’t happened that he has won any matches single-handedly. This indicates that there are some issues in Hyderabad’s lineup. Although Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were batting so well in the beginning that there was hardly any need for Hyderabad to worry, or we can also say that their middle order never came under scrutiny and now they are under scrutiny, and Aiden Markram does not fit in this team.
There are few reasons for this. First of all, the big reason is that he is struggling with form. Experts say that he can play very good shots, classy player and there is lot of talent and potential.
However, in the IPL, a team need match-winners and not players who can play beautiful shots. There shouldn’t be any doubt about this.
The second biggest reason is that Hyderabad has good batsmen; they need a finisher. Yes, Shahbaz Ahmad did a good performance in one or two matches, played good batting against Delhi in one or two matches, and played small but impactful innings, but you can’t expect Ahmad to consistently finish matches for you.
Phillips can contribute more than Markram to the team
So here the need is felt to bring in a finisher. By removing the Aiden Markram, Glenn Phillips could fit into Hyderabad’s team. Glenn Phillips is a multi-dimensional player; he bats well, he fields terrifically and can bowl some handy off spinner, he can be a match-winner.
He is a player who can score 20 runs in 6 balls, if needed for the win, he can score 50 runs in 18 balls or 20 balls. Everyone knows about his fielding. If the name of the top five fielders in the world is mentioned at this time, then the name of Phillips will definitely come up, and the third big thing is that he also knows a little bit of bowling, so it would be the right decision for Hyderabad to include Phillips in the team instead of keeping with Markram.
Many opportunities have been given to Markram so far, and it feels bad to see that a player of his rank, who cannot sit out in any T20 team in the world because of his performance, is not able to make his place in the Hyderabad team.
So it seems that now Hyderabad should replace Markram with Phillips. He batted above a strike rate of 170 in IPL 2023 and also won a couple of matches on his own, and the biggest thing is that he doesn’t need 40 odd balls to make a difference in the match, he is such a player who can win matches in 8-10-12 balls.
