Consistent SRH eye another good show
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s return to form a big boost for Warner-led side
Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad is one of those teams putting in consistent performances year after year. The team from Hyderabad has reached the playoffs every season after winning the title in 2016.
Like every season, this year too, the team banks on its unknown heroes to deliver the goods.
David Warner has been their go-to man in every season. He has been one of the consistent performers in the history of IPL. He is the only cricketer in IPL to score 500 plus scores for the sixth straight season. He had also won Orange Cap thrice since 2015, which is a testimony to his consistency.
Kane Williamson
Adding to that, his opening partner from England Jonny Bairstow was in red-hot form in the series against India. With New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson to come next at No.3, the batting is one of the dreaded ones. If it was Warner-Bairstow duo that provides blistering starts, the presence of Williamson in the middle provides solidarity. However, much will depend on Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar to provide the final flourish that SRH lacked on many occasions.
Lack of a proper finisher has been their bane on many occasions. The likes Abdul Samad and Priyam Garg failed to cement their place in that particular role. In a bid to fill the gap, SRH have bought Kedar Jadhav this year and it will be interesting to see whether he can fulfill the role.
The inclusion of Jason Holder last year provided a much-needed balance to the side as the former West Indies skipper proved handy with both ball and the bat. With injury-prone Mitchell Marsh opting out of the IPL, the management signed England attacking opener Jason Roy as his replacement. Wriddhiman Saha turned out to be the game-changer in the last season when he was given an opportunity in the latter part of the season.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
In the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was out after the first phase of IPL league with injury, is back to his best and proved his mettle in the India-England T20 series recently. T Natarajan was impressive in the last season that saw him made India debut in Tests, ODIs and T20s during Australia tour. He impressed everyone with his abilities to deliver yorkers under pressure.
In Afghanistan leg-spinning star Rashid Khan, SRH have a genuine match-winner. And they also bought Rashid’s compatriot Mujeeb Ur Rahman in auctions and he is a wicket-taking bowler. SRH bowling unit responded well in the absence of Bhuvi last year and that is their trump card this season as well.
But a cap on foreign players and with Warner, Rashid and Williamson are a given in playing XI on any day, the team management will have a lot of thinking to do on the fourth foreign quota.
Sunrisers had a good season last time as they made it to Qualifier 2 before going down to finalist Delhi Capitals. Warner will be once again the key but the likes of Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar have to do their role better in the middle for their team to succeed.
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