“It’s a massive loss” - SRH skipper Aiden Markram on Washington Sundar being ruled out 

SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Aiden Markram has admitted that the unavailability of all-rounder Washington Sundar to injury for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 is a “massive loss”. He added that he did not have much clue about the cricketer’s replacement.

Sundar has been ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring injury. The franchise confirmed the same on Thursday, April 27, through a tweet on their official account. The 23-year-old played seven matches for SRH in IPL 2023, scoring 60 runs at a strike rate of 100 and claiming three wickets at an average of 48.67.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Hyderabad’s IPL 2023 clash against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 29, Markram shared his views on Sundar and said:

“In terms of replacement, I’ve not been involved in any of those, so I’m not too sure what’s happening regarding that. But it’s a massive loss; we all know the quality of Washi and the experience he brings. It’s not very easy to just replace a player like him but you still have to be confident in the players that we have in our squad and give them a fair chance."

Sundar's IPL 2022 campaign was also marred by injury as he split the webbing in his bowling hand.

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“Important for us to try and find some continuity in our batting line up” - Markram

SRH are currently placed ninth in the points table, with two wins and five losses from seven matches. Markram conceded that too much chopping and changing in the batting order hasn’t helped the team’s cause.

He commented:

"Yeah, it's (chopping and changing) been a difficult one. As much as we do try and find places for everyone to play the whole time, I do certainly believe and agree that the more consistent things are, the quicker and better will get results.

"So it is important for us to try and find some form of continuity in our batting line up. Sometimes in games, changes are just based on matchups but we're in a position now as a team where hopefully we found our life balance and hopefully we get the combination right down into tomorrow's game and we get some continuity with batting."

Speaking about the team’s batting failures, he said that it’s important for players to address their mindset and express themselves. Markram elaborated:

"Yeah, that (batting) has been our downfall, unfortunately. But I think it's really more just about addressing the mindset and the mental approach towards it. So we're trying to free guys up and get them to express themselves as best as they can. I just felt that we were slightly conservative and slightly playing within ourselves, unfortunately."

SRH are on a three-match losing streak. In their last game, they went down to Delhi by seven runs.