OPINION: Markram might be better off being released from his IPL team

It is admittedly a nasty comment to make, but it might be best for South African cricket if Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t make the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs.

Ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup, Proteas captain Aiden Markram has been sidelined by the Sunrisers and is in danger of entering the global showpiece in rusty form.

In nine matches in this season’s IPL, Markram has struggled to find his best form with the bat. And after being stripped of the captain’s armband he has been dropped for their last three games and has not played a match since 28 April.

Committed to IPL

The Sunrisers still have two matches left in the league stage, and potentially three playoff games, so if he can find his way back into the team, the Proteas skipper should be sharp enough at the start of the T20 World Cup.

If he is sidelined for the rest of the IPL, however, he will have gone five weeks without any game time when he leads the Proteas against Sri Lanka in their first group match in New York on 3 June.

Sunrisers pay R5.7 million a year for Markram’s services, and they are unlikely to let him go. But if he’s not going to play again in the IPL he will be better off – and so will the Proteas – turning out for the national team in a three-match series against West Indies (to be played between 23-27 May) on the eve of the World Cup.

The final squad for the West Indies tour has not been announced, and if Sunrisers (currently in fourth place) don’t reach the playoffs, Markram should be available for the SA squad.

And with giant killers Bangladesh and former champions Sri Lanka in their first-round World Cup group, having the skipper in form will be beneficial as the national side target their first major global trophy.

Markram captained the Proteas in eight T20 Internationals last year, and they won only two of those games, but the 29-year-old player is a proven leader at various levels of the game and his form will be key in boosting the team’s confidence.

Without game time under the belt, however, it’s going to be difficult for the skipper to hit the ground running.