Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fortunes have declined over the past three seasons, despite having made the playoffs in six of their previous eight seasons—including winning a championship and finishing second. This phase has seen two wooden-spoon finishes, which has forced the management to make significant adjustments and spend heavily on a leader to move the squad ahead.
Pat Cummins, who captained Australia to both the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup, was recently named captain after being purchased at auction for an absurd sum of money. The two big additions were Wanindu Hasaranga and Travis Head, but everyone will be watching to see if Cummins can turn around the team’s performance.
In this cycle, where they have finished: 2022 – ninth, 2023 – tenth
Important additions: Wanindu Hasaranga, Travis Head, and Pat Cummins
Harry Brook, Akeal Hosain, and Adil Rashid are the main omissions.
Complete team:
Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Abhinav Markram, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan, and Pat Cummins (c).
One statistic from the previous year that they should fix
No team has bowled as little spin overs in the IPL 2022 and 2023 as SRH. In terms of spin bowling, they are at the bottom of the rankings in terms of overs bowled (163.5), wickets taken (38), average (36.82), and SR (25.9), and their economy rate (ER) of 8.54 is only slightly higher than RCB’s 8.72. This should be fixed with the addition of Hasaranga and the availability of Washington Sundar.
Keep an eye on Pat Cummins.
Given that he will be playing with one of the four overseas slots in the starting lineup, the Australian captain will be scrutinized not just for his leadership but also for his ability as a player. In order to deepen the batting lineup, Cummins will need to lead SRH’s pace attack and act as a buffer as a lower order batter.
Accidents and accessibility
The fact that SRH doesn’t have to worry about player fitness is a blessing. But although Sundar’s fitness has always fluctuated, Hasaranga has just now made a successful comeback to competitive cricket following a protracted injury absence. Having said that, there are currently no concerns about injuries for the SRH team.
Prospective starting lineup and impact player strategy
Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, and Umran Malik
Impact sub: SRH should use either Rahul Tripathi or Umran Malik, depending on whether they are batting first or second.
