Sunrisers Hyderabad – IPL 2021 Preview

Sunrisers Hyderabad, abbreviated as SRH, is one of the top IPL squads. Since 2016, SRH’s maiden and only IPL title, they’ve managed to make playoff appearances in every IPL season. One of the best bowling sides, also praised for its ability to defend low totals, has often given nightmares to teams with strong batting lineups. They had a fair share of ups and downs, including transitions of captains after ‘The Bowl Tampering Debacle’ in 2018. The question of who is a more worthy captain, David Warner or Kane Williamson, has been the focus of discussions in the past. Well, things have settled for good and David Warner has a fantastic team under his leadership. SRH has the perfect bunch of new talent and experience that could prove lethal against any current IPL franchise.

Let’s take a peek at their history, the 2021 IPL auctions and the things to look forward to in the IPL 2021.

Through the Years in IPL

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is an IPL franchise based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. They have been a part of the IPL after replacing Deccan Chargers in the 2013 season. Sunrisers gained their first IPL title in the 2016 season, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final. Players like David Warner, Kane Williamson, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan have formed the foundation of this squad and have been the main reason for this IPL team’s success.

The journey of SRH can be divided into two stages. In the period from 2013 to 2015, the team saw several changes in terms of players in the squad and in 2016-2020, the team has been a dominant force and has never struggled to qualify for the playoffs. Sunrisers Hyderabad played nine playoff games in the history of the IPL. They won four out of the nine games they played. David Warner has been the backbone of the batting lineup for this side, while Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan have been the lethal duo heading the bowling lineup. The brand worth of the team is estimated to be 483 Crores as of 2020. SRH will be led by David Warner and coached by Trevor Bayliss in the IPL 2021. Tom Moody returned, but this time as Director of Cricket, SRH.

Top Players

Batsmen.

David Warner is the top run-scorer for SRH, having scored 5254 runs in 142 matches with an average of 42.71, including 4 centuries and 48 fifties in his IPL career. While he missed a season in 2018, an overall average of 42.71 is an impressive performance. The second-highest run-scorer in the SRH squad is Manish Pandey, with a total score of 3268 in 146 matches with an average of 29.7 in his IPL career. While batting seems to be a weaker part of SRH when we look at the numbers, the team has some excellent batsmen like Jhonny Bairstow and Kane Williamson lined up in their squad.

Bowlers.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has become the most prolific bowler in this franchise. In 121 matches with an economy of 7.23, he took 136 wickets. It also includes two 4-wicket hauls and one 5-wicket haul. His best bowling figures in the IPL are 5 for 19 runs he took against Kings 11 of Punjab in 2017. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar ranks 7th in the list of IPL wicket-takers. With excellent line and length discipline and swing bowling, Bhuvneshwar is one of the greatest challenges to opponent batsmen, especially with a new ball.

Rashid Khan has the best IPL numbers for bowling economy. He claimed 75 wickets in the 62 matches he played. His best bowling statistic is 3 for 7 runs. Rashid Khan has been effective in holding the opponent’s batting lineup under control with his economic bowling and in putting pressure on the opponent’s team.

With a bowling duo of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan, opponent think tanks are surely going to have trouble in devising out a strategy against them.

All-Rounders.

Since the last few seasons, SRH has been experimental when it comes to all-rounders. They are still unable to find the best fit. Currently, the squad has Jason Holder, Mitchell Marsh, Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma. Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the previous IPL season due to injury.

IPL 2021 Auction

SRH entered the IPL 2021 auction with INR 10.75 crores. In this auction, SRH had the smallest purse along with KKR. SRH released Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Bavanaka, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav and Prithviraj Yarra before the auction. Before the auction, SRH kept a roster of 22 players, including 7 overseas players. This left SRH with just three slots to fill in. Sunrisers have been consistent with their performance in the IPL since 2016, which may be the reason for the team management not making many changes to the squad.

Have a look at the players who have been retained and dropped out by SRH ahead of the 2021 auction.

	Players Retained	Players Released
	David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Sharma, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad.	Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Bavanaka, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, Prithviraj Yarra.

SRH’s goals were set with INR 10.75 crores in the bank. They needed a batting all-rounder to provide support to SRH’s middle order, which consists of young talent. They also needed an overseas fast bowling option.

SRH shortlisted Shivam Dube and K Gowtham as batting all-rounder candidates, but due to a shortage of funds, they were forced to abandon their plans and bid for Kedar Jadhav. SRH requires an overseas fast bowling alternative, but the team already has a strong presence of domestic fast bowlers, which is probably a reason why management has chosen to bid for Mujeeb Ur Rahman, an Afghan spin talent. SRH has acquired J Suchith for INR 30 lakhs, thus investing in a young talent who will shine in future seasons. SRH paid INR 2 crore for Kedar Jadhav and INR 1.5 crore for Mujeeb Ur Rahman, leaving them with INR 6.95 crore in the bank. In retrospect, management must have recognised a missed opportunity in acquiring Shivam Dube, who was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 4.4 crore.

The following is a list of players purchased by SRH for the IPL 2021 season.

	Players Bought (Price INR)
	Kedar Jadhav (INR 2 crore), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (INR 1.5 crore), J Suchith (INR 30 lakh).

Impor

Important Players in IPL 2021

as a well-balanced team of some exceptionally talented batsmen and an equally talented bowling attack. They have retained 22 players from the previous season for this year, showing that the team’s management has full confidence in the team they have built. They also fixed their main weakness in the lower middle order of their batting lineup with the new additions.

SRH has an outstanding overseas bench power. It would be fascinating to see which variations the team decides to play. They have David Warner, Kane Williamson and Jhonny Bairstow in the batting order. Jason Holder, Mitchell Marsh and Mohammad Nabi form an outstanding all-rounder trio. One thing is certain: with Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the spin strike, we will witness an excellent performance this season.

David Warner and Jhonny Bairstow were a successful opening pair in the IPL 2020 and now, SRH have a strong batting lineup with middle-order batsmen like Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and young yet talented batsmen like Abdul Samad and Priam Garg. SRH’s bowling department is also well-stocked with domestic fast bowlers such as Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed and Sandeep Sharma. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Shahbaz Nadeem are in control of the spin.

Concl

Conclusion

sers has been the squad that has relied on the capabilities of its bowling lineup. They have been consistent with their bowling department and even though the SRH batting order has scored low totals at times, SRH’s bowlers have taken up the challenge and continued to defend these low totals. The batting lineup was heavily reliant on the top-order batsmen, but with Kedar Jadhav joining the squad, it would be required of him to prevent the middle order from giving up wickets at critical points of the game.

Since 2016, SRH has consistently qualified for the playoffs. The next thing they need to find out is the best team recipe for playoff matches. The sooner this team determines its lineup, the higher their odds of winning the championship this season. This squad has impressive choices in all departments, making them one of the leading contenders of the IPL 2021.