Sunrisers Hyderabad have as many as eight overseas players in their squad and with both David Warner and Rashid Khan guranteed in the XI, it’s a problem of plenty to pick the other two.
Sunrisers Hyderabad squad has plenty of captains in the set-up. While David Warner has led them to title in 2016, Kane Williamson leads New Zealand in all formats, their new recruit Shakib Al Hasan has led Bangladesh in the past and has been re-appointed as Test skipper, Deepak Hooda led Baroda in the domestic T20 competition and Shikhar Dhawan too has led Delhi in the domestic circuit. The team has managed to retain their core set of players and used the RTM card well to retain the trio of Dhawan, Hooda and Rashid Khan.
Strength: Sunrisers Hyderabad would bank upon their batting more than anything else. With batsmen like Shikhar Dhawa, David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Carlos Brathwaite, Kane Williamson, Yusuf Pathan, the SRH unit can produce fireworks on their day.
While their batting won’t be a matter of concern, the bowling department too comprises of some good household names. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will have the onus of leading the bowling attack while a lot would depend on how Afghanistan youngster Rashid Khan fairs in this edition. Apart from Bhuvi and Rashid, Siddharth Kaul’s ability and young talents like Khaleel Ahmed and Basil Thampi can’t be ignored.
Players like Pandey, Yusuf and Deepak would provide them with various options in the middle. The trio has the ability to accelerate whenever required. Pandey is one of the fittest players in the country and is swift between the wickets while Pathan and Hooda have the ability to strike the ball hard. Moreover, Pathan adds an advantage with the ball too.
Smart buy: Picking up Shakib Al Hasan was a good move by the owners and it lends a lot of balance to their squad. The Bangladesh all-rounder offers a lot to the side and this had been evident in the previous editions when he was a part of KKR side. The left-hander is effective with the cricket ball and can contain the opposition if he bowls the full quota of his four overs while. With the kind of experience he has with both and ball, SRH can dominate any opposition.
Limitations: Playing only four overseas players in an XI brings a lot of opportunities for the local cricketers but also creates a dilemma for the skipper while selecting the overseas ones. And if we talk about Sunrisers, they have as many eight overseas players in the squad. With Warner likely to lead the squad and Rashid being the face of spin bowling attack, the Hyderabad team is left with the provision of playing just two more away players. Nevertheless, SRH still have players who can turn around the game alone on their day.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Warner, Bhuvneshwar, Dhawan, Shakib, Williamson, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Hooda, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Nabi, Basil Thampi, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Sreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehedi Hasan. #KhabarLive
