Sunrisers Hyderabad faltered at the very last hurdle, in the previous edition, against the mighty CSK. They would want to go one better this time around.
Though Sunrisers Hyderbad have lost out on the services of Dhawan, they have got their most successful player, David Warner, back in the team roster. Warner was unavailable the last term due to his one year ban.
Having traded Dhawan for three players, namely, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharm and Shahbaz Nadeem, SRH seem to have made a very shrewd decision. In Vijay Shankar, having done pretty well with the bat for India and having done well in the limited opportunities in the last IPL, SRH seem to have landed a good all-rounder to complement Shakib in the middle. Shahbaz Nadeem has proved his mettle in the shortest format of the game with his highly economic bowling spells. In addition, SRH has also roped in Guptill and Johnny Bairstow. Both are extremely attacking batsmen and are ready top quality replacements in case any of the foreign players are unavailable.
Team after 2019 Player Auction
In:- Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Abhishek Sharma(traded), Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha(released and bought back again), Johnny Bairstow
Out:- Shikhar Dhawan, Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 2019 Squad
Strengths
Sunrisers Hyderabad have got the best bowling attack in the league. Top quality spinners, experienced Indian pace bowlers, a few all-rounders who are good with the ball, you name it and SRH have it. They won a lot of games defending totals in the last IPL and Williamson would want the bowlers to dominate this year as well.
SRH have got great depth in their batting order with Bhuvi coming in at No.8 or 9. Rashid Khan too, has shown that he can be very dangerous towards the end of the innings.
SRH have got great variety when it comes to the all-rounders. They are packed with high quality all-rounders who can turn the match with both their batting as well as bowling.
Weakness
While SRH do not look like having any particular weakness, they will want Warner to start off from where he left in20 17 as they have lost the service of Dhawan.
Predicted Starting XI
David Warner
Kane Williamson(c)
Manish Pandey
Vijay Shankar
Shakib al Hasan
Yusuf Pathan
Wriddhiman Saha(wk)
Rashid Khan
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sandeep Sharma
Siddharth Kaul/ Khaleel Ahmed
Sunrisers Hyderabad – IPL Schedule
Looking at the balance and the quality of Sunrisers Hyderabad, they are title contenders for this seaso.
Expected position in the league table: Play-offs