Sunrisers Hyderabad, which came up with a stunning performance in its debut season in the Indian Premier League last year, has reason to feel confident of improving upon the fourth-place finish it achieved then.
Although the Sri Lankan flavour will be lacking as last year's captain Kumar Sangakkara (on national duty) and Thisara Perera (moving over to King's XI Punjab) will be absent, the Sunrisers will still have the wherewithal to challenge the best teams.
The presence of explosive batsmen like David Warner, Aaron Finch — who holds the T20 International world record for the highest individual score of 156 — and captain Shikhar Dhawan (the lead scorer for SRH last year with 311 runs) augurs well for the team.
Inspiring presence West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy could provide tremendous inspiration. His batting in the recent T20 World Cup in Bangladesh is a pointer to his top form and the opposition will not take him lightly.
Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor is another asset though he may not play all matches since only four foreign players are allowed in the playing eleven. This would effectively mean that stumper Naman Ojha is the alternative, especially because Ojha has decent batting skills too.
Former India batsman Y. Venugopala Rao, exciting young prospect Ricky Bhui of Andhra, all-rounder Ashish Reddy and S. Anirudha are all capable of coming up with outstanding performances.
Variety in bowling But all said, it is perhaps in bowling that SRH stands apart, because of its variety. Bowlers like the fiery Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma and Jason Holder can make life difficult for batsmen. They will have ample support from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and all-rounder Irfan Pathan. In spin, leggie Amit Mishra, the leading wicket-taker for SRH last season, is a match-winner. After an impressive T20 World Cup, he should be in a confident mood.
“We have a very powerful batting line-up and a strong bowling attack led by Steyn. There is perfect balance in the team. We have learnt a lot from our debut season and should do even better this time around,” says SRH mentor K. Srikkanth. “All the teams are well balanced and so it is too early to comment on what could be our eventual standing but for sure, we will be a tough side to beat.”
The squad: Aaron Finch, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Venugopala Rao, Manpreet Juneja, Ricky Bhui, S. Anirudha, Moises Henriques, Karn Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Darren Sammy, Parveez Rasool, Naman Ojha, Brendan Taylor, Amit Paunikar, Lokesh Rahul, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dale Steyn, Ashish Reddy, Jason Holder, Amit Mishra, Chama Milind, and Prasanth Parameswaran.
Watch out for
The 27-year-old Aaron Finch can be a game-changer with his ability to play some unbelievable shots even off good-length balls. His world record highest individual score of 156 in a T20 international late last year bears testimony to this.
After scripting a success story in the Big Bash tournament in Australia and having played for Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors in the IPL tournaments earlier, Finch’s consistency may be a key element for SRH’s campaign in this edition.
Track Record
BEST FINISHES: Deccan Chargers (winner in 2009, 4th in 2010 and 7th in 2011).
Sunrisers (4th on debut in 2013).
WIN-LOSS RECORD: Chargers: Played: 75, won: 29, lost: 46; Sunrisers: Played: 17, won: 9, lost: 7, tied: 1.
BEST PLAYERS: Chargers: Leading run-getter: Adam Gilchrist (1220 in 46 games); Wicket-taker: Pragyan Ojha (60 in 54).
Sunrisers: Leading run-getter: Shikhar Dhawan (311 in 10 games); Wicket-taker: Amit Mishra (21 in 17)
