Jansen or Phillips, Hasaranga or Markande, will the sun rise again?
It’s that time of the year when the biggest festival in the town returns. IPL is around the corner and the whole country is buzzing. Exactly a week ago, Rohit and Jaiswal were opening the innings against England to form a deadly duo. A week later, both will be opening for their respective franchises. Bairstow, despite having a heated argument with the next big thing in Indian cricket, will be supported more than Gill from the locals of Punjab. This is what IPL brings to you. Friends become foes; enemies turn into friends.
We bring to you today the most unpredictable team in the competition. This team had a different captain, different coach last year. When you looked at this team last year, you thought there is no way this team isn’t making the finals. If at all things falter, they will still do very bad to not make the qualifiers. By the time the tournament ended, we saw this team languishing at the bottom. There was no way a team with renowned international superstars and the best names in the business coaching them could finish last. We are talking about the Sunrisers from Hyderabad. Will the sun rise for them this year, or will they carry the wood spoon yet again? Let’s find out.
Performance at the Auction:
They were arguably the best team at the auction table. Bought in some of the world’s best players in Travis Head, whose name none of the Indian fans will forget. Wanindu Hasaranga, the Sri Lankan stalwart and Pat Cummins who walked the talk by silencing the Ahmedabad crowd. They have plugged all the gaps that were left last year. Their overseas contingent is the best in the competition. Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Glenn Phillips, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Fazal Farooqi and the dangerous T20 batsmen going around who walks into any 11 in the world Heinrich Klaassen.
This team can play anyone from their squad at any given point of time. They can play Marco Jansen and replace him with Fazal Haq Farooqi midway through the tournament. At the same time, play Markram or replace him with a finisher in Phillips. Wanindu can come in as an impact player with Sundar already in the 11. They boast of the best Indian bowlers across all the teams. A veteran in Bhuvneshwar Kumar who can swing the ball upfront, Umran Malik the fastest bowler in the country, Natarajan who can bowl yorkers at will. Spinners in Sundar and Shahbaz who was traded from RCB this season.
Strengths:
The main strength lies in their captain who seems to be doing nothing wrong for the past 12-18 months. Everything he touches turns into gold. Be it retaining the Ashes, winning the World cup, running through the batting line up or chasing a tricky total with the tail. Travis Head, the tormentor of Indians can play dual role. Go hammer and tongs at the top and then roll his arm over if his team needs him to. Rahul Tripathi, who needs no time to settle at the crease can blend well with Head & Markram. Heinrich Klaasen is the best finisher world cricket has seen in recent times. Bhuvi and Natarajan can be lethal at the death complementing Cummins who will do the damage with the new ball. They seem to have all the bases covered and they have everything to be crowned the kings of the competition under the world cup winning skipper.
Weakness:
It is said that too many cooks spoil the broth. There are teams who have plenty of problems, but this has problem of plenty. See the difference between both the sentences. What they did last year should not be repeated this year. They kept on rotating their players and changing their combination. For instance, Brook shuffled across the batting order way too much without any returns. Just a century to show for but that didn’t do any justice to the price that he was bought for. Similarly, they will have to figure out a way to squeeze Hasaranga into the 11. Shahbaz, Markande and Sundar cannot provide the same amount of assurance that Hasaranga can but at the same time you cannot bench Head, Klaasen and Cummins. Vettori, the new coach has some thinking to do. He is replacing another legend Brian Lara who couldn’t use his experience to guide this team out of the bottom position last year.
Probable Playing XI:
Travis Head
Mayank Agarwal
Rahul Tripathi
Aiden Markram
Heinrich Klaasen (WK)
Washington Sundar
Pat Cummins (C)
Mayank Markande
Bhuvneshwar kumar
T Natarajan
Umran Malik
Impact Sub: Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed.
Our prediction:
We don’t think this team can make it to the play offs. This team has great individuals, but can they gel as a team? Only time will tell, but looks tough. Hope the new captain and coach combo help the sun rise at Hyderabad.
