South African T20 captain Aiden Markram showers the highest praise on his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Abhishek Sharma. The 23-year-old is having a blast in IPL 2024. He has formed a lethal partnership with Australian star Travis Head. The duo famously chased down Lucknow Super Giants‘ 165/4 target within 10 overs. With 401 runs already scored this season, there’s no doubt Sharma is in terrific form and is receiving deserved praise from cricket legends and teammates.
Markram – Abhishek Sharma can get into India’s Playing XI post T20 World Cup
Markram stated that Abhishek has every quality to get into India’s Playing XI after the T20 World Cup. During an interview with PTI, the South African all-rounder lauded Sharma for the huge progress he has made this season.
“He’s got a very calm and level head on his shoulders and he’ll take everything in his stride. But my fingers are certainly crossed for him to go to higher honours,” Markram said about Sharma.
“Abhi (Abhishek) has made massive strides this season. He was showing some really positive signs in the previous seasons and what he’s achieved so far this season puts him in good stead for hopefully representing India one day.”
Impact player rule gives you freedom as a player
Markram also touched on the subject of Impact Player. Off late, there has been a lot of talk surrounding the Impact Player rule which was first introduced in IPL 2023. Legendary cricketer Wasim Akram has already criticized this rule saying it limits an all-rounders’ role in the team. But Markram backed this rule and stated that it gives teams more freedom.
“Naturally, when you have that extra batter in your batting line-up, you feel more freedom as a player. And obviously from the start of the innings, the openers feel that extra bit of freedom as well,” he highlighted the positives of Impact Player rule.
“I think we’ve seen it with quite a few other teams that have been doing it. So I’ll definitely say that the impact players have created that and created probably a new brand of T20 cricket that happens here in IPL,” he added.
