Sandwiched between Harry Brook’s maiden IPL hundred and a rearguard rally orchestrated by Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh that almost took Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the brink of another heist was a neat little T20 innings from Aiden Markram that probably was the turning point of Friday's match.
Fifty off 26 balls is no mean feat, regardless of the bowling or the short boundaries. In Markram’s case, it’s all the more creditable considering it came in a critical phase after Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi had departed with KKR’ spin might slowly coming to the fore.
Markram, the T20 international skipper, opens for South Africa in Tests and hence there is always a case of being used to some certainties in life, like facing the new ball, for example. In T20s however, he has batted largely at No 4, a position that barely offers time to adapt. It’s a transition not many can ace, but on Friday Markram took it to another level by almost going against the run of play to catch KKR off guard with a stunning range of strokes.
Only four of the 26 balls Markram played were from medium pace, that too from Andre Russell who was on a hot streak after taking two wickets in his first over. But Markram didn’t need a second invitation when Russell bowled short, pulling him for six off only the fifth ball of his stay.
{{/usCountry}}Only four of the 26 balls Markram played were from medium pace, that too from Andre Russell who was on a hot streak after taking two wickets in his first over. But Markram didn’t need a second invitation when Russell bowled short, pulling him for six off only the fifth ball of his stay.
{{/usCountry}}The more remarkable part came after it, when Markram faced KKR’s slow bowling trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy and Suyash Sharma in tandem, hitting at least one six off the latter two. He was particularly hard on Sharma, milking 16 runs in the 12th over, before turning on Chakaravarthy, slapping him for a boundary and a slogged six over midwicket before holing out to Russell near the boundary.
Barely two overs earlier, SRH’s run rate looked to be in a free fall after Brook had been foxed by Narine’s variations. It was in this background that SRH added 72 runs in 47 balls, a partnership that single-handedly kept them ahead of the curve despite KKR’s best effort. Generous captain that he is, Markram tried to stay out of the arc lights and praised his team after the 23-run win. “We bat quite deep and that's the impact it had,” he said.
Sagging strike rates in the middle overs is the biggest worry for all batting teams but Sunrisers Hyderabad will go home knowing they added 82 runs between the 7th and 15th overs at more than nine per over against one of the best slow-bowling attacks in sapping conditions.
It’s this art of winning the small phases that Markram was talking about 24 hours before the game. “Our bigger players understand and appreciate that they would like to contribute and start winning games for the team,” he said on Thursday. “Certainly, it's warming to see everyone contributing in little phases of the game. In T20 cricket, the match can be lost in little phases.”
One of the newer, more low-profile overseas players in the IPL (he started playing only in 2021), Markram has a long road ahead of him, as a batter and captain. That he chooses to give his team the best chance of winning by sending a phenomenon like Brook to open while demoting himself despite being a pure batter reflects well on his game awareness and leadership. Backing that with a quick fifty when the game could have drifted away also shows Markram has his head in the right place.