Can big overseas guns bring back glory days for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2024?

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) - Team Profile

Owners: SUN TV Network

Captain: Pat Cummins

Coach: Daniel Vettori

Previous edition: 10th

Title: Once (2016)

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were the worst-performing team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. They could only win four of their 14 games and attained eight points. Consequently, SRH ended at the bottom of the points table and crashed out of the tournament.

As they begin a new season, the Orange Army has made massive changes in every department. The most significant one is the introduction of Pat Cummins as a leader. SRH also bought big names like Travis Head and Wanindu Hasaranga in IPL 2024 auction.

#OrangeArmy! Our new skipper Pat Cummins 🧡#IPL2024 pic.twitter.com/ODNY9pdlEf

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 4, 2024

Daniel Vettori will be the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The last few years haven’t been great for the franchise. They hope Pat Cummins brings in his experience and luck to revive the team’s fortunes and take them in the right direction.

Complete SRH Squad for IPL 2024

Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, 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, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan

Team News (Injuries and replacements)

• Wanindu Hasaranga unretired from Test cricket a couple of days back but has been suspended due to an offence during the Bangladesh series. He should be available from the first game.

Also Read: Can experienced campaigners do the heavy lifting for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2024?

Probable SRH Playing XI for IPL 2024

Strengths

• Sunrisers Hyderabad have a terrific opening pair in Travis Head and Mayank Agarwal, who can complement each other well.

• SRH have terrific batters of spin in Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, and Heinrich Klaasen.

• SRH have three LHBs to split RHBs in the batting order.

• SRH have a terrific powerplay bowler in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, while Umran Malik can be an enforcer in the middle overs. Pat Cummins will bowl the hardest overs.

• SRH have among the finest overseas options in their squad.

• SRH have variety in the spin department.

• SRH have plenty of bowling options in their strongest XI.

Weaknesses

• SRH genuinely lack a power-hitter in the lower order. While Pat Cummins can hit the ball long, he can’t do the job of a finisher. Washington Sundar is not known for his pace-hitting, either. They have the option of Abdul Samad, but he has been inconsistent.

• SRH might struggle with the ball in the death overs. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a death-overs specialist, he hasn’t played cricket at this level consistently of late. Pat Cummins and T Natarajan have been mighty inconsistent with their lengths in this phase in T20 cricket.

• Pat Cummins doesn’t have much experience of captaining a T20 side at this level.

SRH’s IPL 2024 Fixtures/Schedule

• KKR vs SRH - 23rd March, 7:30 PM IST

• SRH vs MI - 27th March, 7:30 PM IST

• GT vs SRH - 31st March, 3:30 PM IST

• SRH vs CSK - 5th April, 7:30 PM IST

IPL 2024 Season Prediction

Sunrisers Hyderabad did a decent job at the auction to cover a few bases. They bought big names, like they always do, and will hope to perform better. Inconsistency has been their biggest problem in the previous few editions.

Pat Cummins’ appointment as a captain seems like a recency bias. He has little to no experience leading a T20 side, and his credentials as a T20 player aren’t strong, either. Still, the squad they have assembled possesses quality.

Cummins aiming for an aggressive start against KKR 🧡💜#SRH pic.twitter.com/cgX6dTsbpw

— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) March 21, 2024

The batters will have to do the heavy lifting for SRH in IPL 2024. However, the team doesn’t inspire enough confidence to qualify for playoffs. They might end another campaign with a league-stage exit.

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