IPL 2023: IPL will start on 31 March. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will begin their IPL journey on April 2. Newly appointed Captain Aiden Markram will not be available for the opening match of SRH. In his absence, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the team. 

Bhubaneswar will captain Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening match against Rajasthan Royals. Markram is in South Africa to play two-match ODI series against the Netherlands and will reach India on April 3.

Series against Netherlands is crucial for South Africa

The ODI series against the Netherlands is crucial for South Africa as the proteas are looking to qualify directly for the ODI World Cup to be played in India this year.  winning this series means they can qualify for ODI World Cup. 

Bhuvneshwar has been part of the Sunrisers camp since 2013. He has done captaincy before for SRH. He captioned six matches in the 2019 season and one match in the 2022 season as well.

After finishing in 8th position in the points table in 2022, the Sunrisers made some big changes for this season. They released their captain Kane Williamson and star performer David Warner. Markram was appointed as captain in place of Williamson.

Markram recently led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the inaugural SA20 (South Africa’s Twenty20 League) title, where he finished as the tournament’s third-highest run-scorer. He scored 369 runs at a strike rate of 127. 

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