IPL 2018: Can Sunrisers Hyderabad rise to the occasion and win IPL title?

Sunrisers Hyderabad, Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 champions are ready to play and come into this event as hot favourites. SRH, which came into existence in 2013 have been there and there abouts in every IPL and despite not boasting of stars, the team has always been consistent and fun to watch.

During the mega-auctions held in January, SRH won the battle on the first day itself and ticked almost all the boxes. The support staff led by head coach Tom Moody and ably assisted by VVS Laxman and Muttiah Muralitharan did their homework and tried to retain the core of the team and bought fresh faces, who can make an impact straight away.

One of the reasons for the success of SRH is they don’t complicate things and play a set pattern. During auctions, SRH’s big-budget signing was Manish Pandey (Rs 11 crore) and also added performers like Shakib Al Hasan and Carlos Brathwaite. The team strategy was to concentrate on Indian talent, which fills seven spots in the team and in Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Sandeep Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, the team did quite well on that front. These names might not be big box-office names, but they are nuanced T20 players and are all match winners on their day.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s overseas players consist of captain David Warner (might lose captaincy after ball tampering fiasco), Kane Williamson, Chris Jordan, Rashid Khan (Afghan pride and fastest to 100 ODI wickets), Billy Stanlake, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite (four consecutive sixes in 2016 World T20 final), Mohammad Nabi and all of them bring something different to the table. SRH have played well as a unit and they understand the dynamics of T20 cricket. Moody would be emphasising on nailing the basics and young Indian players can learn so much from the likes of Dhawan, Bhuvi and be getting chance to play in the eleven will do their confidence a world of good.

Also read: IPL 2018: Can revamped Rajasthan Royals replicate their first season success?

IPL is a league which is very hectic and despite having a pretty strong squad, cricket is not played on paper and after hearing news of Warner’s transgressions in South Africa, SRH might have to look for a replacement of captain in either Kane Williamson or Shikhar Dhawan. The team is more or less sorted and go into the tournament as strong contenders, but how the team handles expectations would be interesting to note. Sunrisers Hyderabad looks like a squad which doesn’t have many issues and if they get momentum early in the tournament then Orange Army would be hard to stop and SRH might win the coveted IPL trophy for the second time.

Prediction for 2018: Top four finish highly likely

Sunrisers Hyderabad (likely XI): David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul