IPL 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad squad analysis
The Sunrisers Hyderabad have more boxes ticked than otherwise ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League. The side looks extremely balanced and have all that it takes to repeat their heroics of the 2016 season when they won the IPL under David Warner’s captaincy.
The franchise retained the services of captain David Warner and the leading wicket-taker of previous two editions of the league, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, who has been in breathtaking form recently, was retained using the Right to Match (RTM).
The others who were retained via RTM include Afghan spinner Rashid Khan and the all-rounder Deepak Hooda. To add to this wonderful bunch of players, the franchise brought back Kane Williamson who will certainly add more gravity to the middle order.
As if a tradition, the squad is yet again built around its bowling unit which has other than Bhuvi, the likes of Siddharth Kaul (16 wickets in 10 matches in IPL 2017), Sandeep Sharma (17 wickets in 13 matches in IPL 2017) and Basil Thampi (11 wickets in 12 matches in IPL 2017). Not to forget the all-rounders who will bring so much more balance to the side.
Their already good looking batting unit will also feature Manish Pandey (396 runs in 14 matches for KKR in IPL 2017) as he will find himself a place in the top order. Pandey was the franchise’s biggest purchase for Rs. 11 crore.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Rajasthan Royals in their opening game of the league on 9 April 2018.
Squad: David Warner (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammed Nabi, Basil Thampi, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Sreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehedi Hasan