XtraTime Web Desk: Sunrisers Hyderabad squad is full of potential and is one of the most balanced T20 side. Without any shadow of a doubt, Sunrisers are likely to finish high in the table and will look for a play-off spot in this year’s Indian Premier League. The team has a lethal top order and a very solid spin attack, thus the task won’t be difficult for them.
Sunrisers were never a very high-profile team like Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings. Their main strength is their solid core coaching group. Trevor Bayliss, the head coach of the team knows a thing or two about winning the trophy as he has already won the IPL trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders. Other than that, VVS Laxman and Muttiah Muralitharan has done remarkably well in the recent past.
Not only Bayliss, VVS Laxman and Muttiah Muralitharan also have been in the dug-outs of a winning team in the past. Thus, making this one of the strongest coaching unit of the league.
David Warner, who will once again be the captain of the team has experienced in managing the side. In David Warner, the franchise will have an inspirational leader as well as a superb batsman who will lead the team from front.
The southpaw led Sunrisers to a title triumph in 2016 and has made the tournament his own, winning the ‘Orange Cap’ thrice.
Last season, alongside Jonny Bairstow, Warner shattered multiple records including the highest opening partnership in IPL history. The duo single-handedly led Sunrisers to the knockout stage.
The Australian was the leading run-getter, amassing 692 runs in 12 matches, with eight half-centuries and a ton. While Bairstow scored 445 runs in 10 games, notching up two fifties and a century.
This year again, the pair will be expected to do the heavy lifting with the bat, while senior India pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and the Afghanistan T20 captain Rashid Khan will be manning the bowling resources. Siddarth Kaul and Shahbaz Nadeem are potent Indian bowling options while Billy Stanlake can crank it up considerably.
Sunrisers’ blind spot in the lack of depth in their batting order. The team will rely on Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson to provide direction provided Warner and Bairstow fail to click as a pair.
The franchise has invested in youngsters like left-handed Virat Singh, who scored 343 runs with a strike rate of 142.32 in the last Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Batting all-rounder Abhishek Sharma and India under-19 captain Priyam Garg, and they would hope one of them can provide the stability the middle-order desperately requires.
“This year we went with very young talent because we are looking at giving opportunities to the youngsters and try to get the best out of them,” bowling consultant Muralitharan said.
With inputs from PTI.