IPL 2022 Auction: Predicting SRH's ideal playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were quite slow to get off the mark at the IPL 2022 Auction. Their first buy was all-rounder Washington Sundar and they took flight thereon.
They followed it up by reacquiring two of their former pacers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan. Joining the two former Hyderabad quicks were young guns Abhishek Sharma and Priyam Garg, who represented the franchise as well.
With 23 players comprising their roster, the Sunrisers will be confident of some of the acquisitions they made on the second day.
West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd was bought for INR 7.75 crore, while his teammate, wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran, was their most expensive buy at INR 10.75 crore.
Shepherd was bagged after a five-way battle with Lucknow, Rajasthan, Mumbai, and Chennai as the Guyanese hard-hitting seamer eventually found a taker in Hyderabad.
The franchise will be particularly happy to have bought T Natarajan back for a steal at INR 4 crore. The seamer was a revelation for the franchise in 2020, picking up 16 wickets in as many games.
Here's a quick look at the complete squad ahead of IPL 2022:
Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooram, Romario Shepherd, Marco Hansen, Aiden Markram, Sean Abbott, Glenn Philips, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Abdul Samad, Kartik Tyagi, Umran Malik, Shreyas Gopal, Priyam Garg, J Suchith, Shashank Singh, R Samarth, Saurabh Dubey, and Vishnu Vinod.
Predicting SRH's ideal playing XI
Rahul Tripathi and South Africa's Aiden Markram are most likely to walk out for SRH with skipper Kane Williamson taking his usual No.3 spot.
Gloveman Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, and Washington Sundar will form the middle order, while Romario Shepherd and Shreyas Gopal, who are quite handy with the willow, will form their lower-order lineup.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan are shoo-ins and will be their powerplay and death-overs specialists, with Umran Malik sending down his quota of overs during the mid-innings phase.
The only worry is if the top order falters, bringing up a familiar woe for SRH. Should they lose wickets in a heap when chasing a mammoth total, the lower order will have a lot to do, something that the side will like to address in their strategy.
What are your thoughts on SRH's ideal playing XI?