The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had managed to reach the playoffs in IPL 2019 but tasted defeat in the Eliminator against the Delhi Capitals (DC). For IPL 2020, they have made a few changes to their squad and now they seem to have firmly contended for the title.
SRH will be missing their star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was released after being banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to report the approach of bookies. In the auction, they made some smart buys while focusing on acquiring some young Indian cricketers.
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With their training sessions ahead of IPL 2020 in full swing, here we make an attempt of analyzing the SRH squad and have a look at how it shapes up for the much-awaited return of top-level cricket. Here are the strengths and weaknesses of the Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of IPL 2020.
SRH – Strengths
#1 Opening batsmen
SRH skipper, David Warner, and Jonny Bairstow are arguably the best opening combination in IPL 2020, and both batsmen have the capability of destroying any bowling attack. While Warner is the leading run-scorer among overseas players in IPL history, Bairstow had a splendid debut season last year and his white-ball game is improving by the day. With settled openers, SRH won’t need to make any changes to the combination during the course of IPL 2020.
#2 Experience spinners
One of the major factors behind teams’ success in IPL 2020 will be the spinners, given the slow pitches in the country, SRH will be having the upper hand with their well-rounded spin attack spearheaded by Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan. He is ably supported by countryman Mohammad Nabi. They also have spin-bowling all-rounders in Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, and Abhishek Sharma.
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Apart from spinners, SRH also has the perfect blend of experience and youth. In Warner, Kane Williamson, Nabi, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they have seasoned campaigners along with some youngsters like – Virat Singh, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, and Khaleel Ahmed to name a few.
SRH – Weaknesses
#1 Weak Middle-order
Despite their world-class openers, SRH has a very futile middle order is threadbare, to say the least. Apart from Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, and Wriddhiman Saha, no Indian player has significant IPL experience. The other options are Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, and Shreevats Goswami. And among overseas players, Williamson and Mitchell Marsh may not even get to play due to Nabi’s recent form. In this situation, Sunrisers Hyderbad will need their young Indian batsmen to perform as soon as they are thrown into the thick of things.
#2 Dependency on Foreign players
While the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals can be termed as the most reliant teams on their overseas players to step up, but SRH is nothing less. Moreover, the chances of the Australian and English players might miss the initial part of the tournament and this would leave SRH in a spot of bother at the very start of the tournament. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kane Williamson, both of whom have led the team for short bursts in the past, might need to rise to the occasion if this is the case.
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SRH will be trying to make sure than they don’t look to their overseas contingent to win them games single-handedly, and they will need to strike the right balance very early into IPL 2020.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad for IPL 2020
Kane Williamson, David Warner, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Bavanaka Sandeep, Fabian Allen, Abdul Samad, Sanjay Yadav
