3 Players who can replace Shikhar Dhawan at SRH
The Sunrisers Hyderabad have announced the players they have released and those they have retained for the upcoming season of the IPL. They traded star opener Shikhar Dhawan for the trio of Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma.
Here is the list of retained players for the Sunrisers Hyderabad:
David Warner, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Shakib Al-Hasan.
Also, here is the list of players released by SRH:
Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan and Shikhar Dhawan.
With a few key players released and no one left to open the batting with David Warner and also no reliable wicketkeeper option, it'll be interesting to see which players they will go for at the auction.
Here are three players who can replace Dhawan in the Sunrisers camp.
#3 Jonny Bairstow (England)
Jonny Bairstow went unsold in last year's auction but his performances this year are almost sure to get him a suitor this year.
The wicketkeeper-batsman was a driving force in England's ride to the top of the ICC ODI rankings. He has turned heads with his performances for England over the last two years, making everyone wonder why nobody went for him at last year's auction.
A versatile batsman who can play in many positions and also a safe wicketkeeping option, Bairstow could be the player that SRH are looking for. He could open the batting with Warner and form a destructive opening pair like he did with Jason Roy in the national team.
Bairstow has scored 1025 runs in 22 matches opening the batting for England in ODIs, with an average of 48 and a phenomenal strike rate of 120.