SRH has the wares to reprise 2016 heroics

It will be a different kind of challenge for Sunrisers Hyderabad minus its explosive opener and inspirational leader David Warner as it launches its campaign to regain the trophy it won in 2016.

For Kane Williamson, captaincy may not be new but the demands will be, even as the management has replaced Warner with another flamboyant opener, Alex Hales, to partner Shikhar Dhawan.

Alex Hales...aggressive at the top of the order. (File)   | Photo Credit: Getty Images

It is not going to be easy in the changed scenario for Williamson, given the fact that he was not a certainty in the playing eleven when Warner was around!

Warner’s absence can be a positive — spurring the others to raise the bar and make an emphatic statement.

The batting line-up has the potential to take on the best as apart from the free-stroking openers, it has the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Wriddhiman Saha, Ricky Bhui, Carlos Brathwaite and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who can rise to the occasion.

One of the grey areas has been the brittle middle-order and this seems to have been addressed by preferring the big-hitting Pathan and Pandey.

If the top order fails, the onus will be on these two to change gears.

Sunrisers’ strength is its bowling attack.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the knuckle ball specialist and one of the best in death overs, should be the key to the team’s fortunes in the company of new-ball partners Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul and the highly-rated Basil Thampi.

The variety in the attack is due to the presence of hard-hitting left-arm spinning all-rounder Bipul Sharma, the Afghan spin duo of leggie Rashid Khan, one of the stars last season, and off-spinner Mohd. Nabi. However, the chances of both the Afghans playing in the same game are less.

Sunrisers mentor V.V.S. Laxman takes pride in reminding about the kind of environment the brains-trust of Tom Moody and Muttiah Muralitharan ensures for the players, giving them the freedom to express freely on any issue that can help the team’s cause.

“It is imperative to get good starts to get the momentum going and we have world-class performers who can change the course of the match,” says Laxman.

By all means, Sunrisers can still be the team to beat as yet another edition unfolds.