IPL 2022 – What is the best 11 for SRH?

A quick scan across all seasons of the IPL will be all one needs to realise the most understated franchise in the history of the tournament has been SunRisers Hyderabad. And once again, in IPL 2022, SRH will reprise their old selves – unassuming yet tremendously effective.

Heading into the IPL 2022 mega auction, SunRisers Hyderabad retained three players. Captain Kane Williamson, who had taken over from franchise legend David Warner midway last IPL season; the hard hitting finisher Abdul Samad and the superfast prodigy Umran Malik.

While Williamson was an obvious retention after SRH clearly moved on from David Warner, the remaining two were interesting choices. Samad and Malik are both yet to prove themselves in the IPL circuit. However, young Indian talents are rare in the market and both players are blessed with natural, uncoachable abilities. The power and natural six hitting ability of Samad, and the natural, raw pace of Malik.

IPL 2022 – SRH team analysis

It looks likely that the franchise’s new captain will reprise the old captain’s role and find himself at the very top of the order. SRH have a natural opening batter in Aiden Markram. However, franchises tend to prefer the South African in the middle order which means Markram will bat at number 4. T20 teams are also increasingly leveraging his off spin bowling, meaning SRH have two bowling options in the top order.

The other bowling option is Abhishek Sharma, who is likely to open the bat. The former U-19 World Cup winner attracted attention from Punjab Kings, as SRH battled hard to brush their competitors away to land the left hand batter and left arm orthodox bowler.

Former KKR floater Rahul Tripathi is likely bat at number 3 and will be given the license to go for the big shots, much like Abhishek Sharma with Williamson likely to drop anchor.

With Samad as the finisher, SunRisers bet heavily on Nicholas Pooran whose IPL career has been inversely proportional to the global reputation of his talent. The West Indian will now surely come good – even by law of averages. A smart buy by SRH was Washington Sundar, another player who can contribute with the ball and bat anywhere in the top seven.

Romario Shepherd is likely to bat at number 8 and much like most other players from his part of the world, can use the long handle at the death. Shepherd also bowls the difficult overs in this format, while also being a gun fielder. In fact, SunRisers Hyderabad have plenty of death bowlers with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan also in the mix.

Youngsters Kartik Tyagi and Umran Malik are the other Indian quick bowling options the franchise possesses. The management has once again managed to create a strong pool of Indian bowlers, consequently allowing the coaching staff options to consider.

SRH’s weakness, however, lies in the spin bowling department. While Markram, Abhishek Sharma and Sundar can all bowl handy spin, they are not wicket taking options or bowlers any batter will look to negotiate without risk. As their lead spinner, Shreyas Gopal is likely to get a sustained run.

In terms of backups, SRH look short in the Indian batting department with Priyam Garg the only player of any repute. They, however, have good overseas options across the board. Glenn Phillips is a wicketkeeping option and electric on the field as well. The likes of Sean Abbott and Marco Jansen provide an alternative to Shepherd. In Jagadeesha Suchith they have a similar player to Shreyas Gopal.

IPL 2022 – SRH predicted 11

Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (C), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan.

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