[Watch] SRH welcomes Glenn Phillips and Fazal Farooqi ahead of IPL 2023
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be among the few teams looking to turn things around in the upcoming season following a below-par 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign.
The side finished eighth in the previous edition and released their captain Kane Williamson, who pulled out midway through the last IPL, and West Indian sensation Nicholas Pooran.
Other notable releases from the squad include Romario Shepard, Sean Abbott, and Shreyas Gopal.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who captained the team after Kane Williamson's withdrawal last year, has been retained along with Aiden Markram, Glenn Phillips, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, and Karthik Tyagi.
At the most recent auction in December, SRH made one of the biggest purchases as they bought batting sensation Harry Brook for 13.25 crore. The franchise also added Indian opener Mayank Agarwal, South African Heinrich Klassen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, and West Indian spinner Akiel Hossain to their ranks.
The Hyderabad franchise has shown faith in its support staff, retaining the likes of Brian Lara, Dale Steyn, and Hemang Badani. They released Tom Moody as their head coach and appointed Brian Lara to take over the reins.
Two of their retained overseas players, New Zealand's Glenn Phillips and Afghanistan's Fazal Farooqi recently joined the SRH camp. The franchise took to its social media handles to update fans on their arrival.
While Farooqi missed all but three matches for the Sunrisers in last year's IPL, Glenn Phillips did not feature in a single game. However, their stocks have shot up over the past few months and they could be given more game time in the upcoming IPL.
Phillips set the world on fire with his impressive showing in the ICC T20 World cup in October 2022, and Farooqi led Afghanistan in wickets in their recent T20 series win over Pakistan.
SRH hopes their newly appointed captain Aiden Markram will lead the side to success in the IPL
Aiden Markram comes into the captaincy role, having tasted success at the Under 19 Level, where he led South Africa to World Cup glory in 2014.
The right-hander was the third-leading run scorer in the tournament as he top-scored for the Proteas in the finals with an unbeaten 66 in a tricky run chase against Pakistan to be named the Man of the Series.
Earlier this year, Markram led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to victory in the inaugural CSA T20 league while finishing third on the run-scoring chart. The SRH skipper also captained the South African international team in the 2018 ODI and T20 series against India.
With a new captain-coach combo at the helm, the Sunrisers are hopeful of a turnaround from a disastrous last couple of seasons in the IPL, where they finished in the bottom half of the table.
The franchise will hope that the 28-year-old can replicate that form with both the bat and as captain as they look to win their first IPL title since the 2016 season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will begin their 2023 season against Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on April 2.