David Warner was one of the experienced members of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Under his captaincy, SRH won their only IPL title in 2016. So, the franchise team will be going to miss him in the upcoming IPL 2018, which will begin from April 7.
In the ball-tampering scandal, Australian vice-captain David Warner has been found the mastermind of that incident which was highly against the spirit of the game. As a result, Cricket Australia (CA) has suspended him for one year from all kind of international and domestic matches. He will also never be able to lead the national side again.
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Before that ball-tampering scandal, Warner was set as a captain for SRH in IPL 2018. But, that incident resulted in his dismissal from the captaincy post. Later, the CA’s ban resulted in his suspension from the IPL. While SRH will be going to miss him in the IPL 2018, they have signed English opener Alex Hales as a replacement for him.
Warner had 114-match experiences in his IPL career. Since 2014, Warner played for SRH total 59 IPL matches, where he scored total 2,579 runs with the average of 52.63. On the other hand, Alex Hales has yet to make an IPL debut.
Also read: Top 3 fifty makers in IPL history
Now, we will look at the predicted SRH line-up for the upcoming IPL season.
SRH’s Predicted XI for IPL 2018
(Opening batsmen)
Shikhar Dhawan and Alex Hales
Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner was a long-time opening partner for SRH in IPL. David Warner’s unavailability can be reduced very well by Dhawan.
English opener Alex Hales has replaced David Warner for this season. The in-form right-handed opener can provide the perfect start with Dhawan. However, he has to work more with his consistency, otherwise, his place may be in danger.
(Other top and middle-order batsmen)
Kane Williamson (captain), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan and Deepak Hooda
New SRH skipper Kane Williamson will be perfect as a no.3 batsman. Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan and Deepak Hooda can provide the discipline middle-order batting.
Though Manish Pandey is well known as a top-order batsman, his recent brilliant match-finishing knocks for Indian cricket team can demote his batting position due to team’s need.
Shakib Al Hasan and Deepak Hooda will not only to be used as middle-order batsmen, they will complete the all-rounder options for the team. However, English pacer Chris Jordan and Windies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite are also in the squad, but being as foreigners they have to fight with Shakib Al Hasan and can get the limited chances to prove themselves.
There are also some players like Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Sachin Baby, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal, Bipul Sharma and Mehdi Hasan who will feature for some matches and need to prove themselves to become a regular member.
(Wicketkeeper)
Wriddhiman Saha
While SRH has only two regular wicketkeepers, Wriddhiman Saha and Shreevats Goswami, it will be very easy for them to choose one. Saha is an experienced and good wicketkeeper as he the present regular Test wicketkeeper for team India. In the addition, Saha has good batting ability who can rotate the strike and change his gear according to the situation.
(Pace bowlers)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma
While Indian right-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace bowling attack, SRH can choose Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma as the other pacers, if considering their amount of IPL experiences.
However, according to the match progresses, Williamson can also provide at least one alteration with Thangarasu Natarajan or Khaleel Ahmed, as both are the left-arm pacers can bring the perfect pace bowling variations.
Basil Thampi and Australian pacer Billy Stanlake can also get some chances where they have to prove their qualities.
(Spin bowlers)
Rashid Khan
In-form Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was one of the important performers for SRH in IPL 2017. In that season, he took 17 wickets among the 14 matches for the franchise. Well, he is looking now more dangerous than before as his consistency level is now on high even in T20 cricket. Rashid Khan will be the leading spinner for the side in the upcoming IPL and there is no doubt.
