IPL SWOT Analysis: Set Sunrisers Hyderabad still looking to fix middle order troubles
IPL SWOT Analysis | Areas SRH need to target ahead of mini auctions
It is Indian Premier League season once again. Being hosted just four months after the UAE edition, the tournament has not given much time to the franchises to make comprehensive assessments of their assets or for that matter the fans to see their favourite stars in International/Domestic action.
But as the immortal lines in the Godfather go - ‘You gotta do what you gotta do’, the eight IPL franchises released several players from their teams ahead of the mini auction. Big names such as Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Chris Morris were let go on January 20th with teams either looking to completely restructure existing combinations or to reduce the salary burden on their heads.
While teams like KXIP and RCB released as many as 9 and 10, KKR and SRH chose to reserve their core.
SRH in particular, released their fringe players who were not in the scheme of things last year and would have warmed the bench this season again given the teams affinity to trust its combination irrespective of the results. And SRH are unique that way. In the era where teams are dominated by star powerg, constant chopping and changing, SRH have invested in underrated individuals who either have a high ceiling or are trusted enough by the management.
Take Kane Williamson for example. Captain for New Zealand in all formats, Williamson has always lived in the shadows of the prolific David Warner - a bonafide IPL legend. Playing an average of 8 matches per season (barring 2018), a player of Williamson’s pedigree and stature could potentially have fallen out with the management, but it’s just not how things work at the SRH.
Speaking to OneCricket Williamson’s teammate Shreevats Goswami provided a glimpse into the team culture.
“The way that Hyderabad treats its players is special,” said the Bengal keeper-batsman with pride.
“They try and rope in team men who are good people on and off the field which reflects in the kind of cricket we play around the year. They are very consistent in choosing the kind of players and they know what they want.” Goswami added.
This has reflected in this season’s retention list as well.
At the moment, the SRH squad stands at -
Batsman - David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Abdul Samad
All rounder - Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma
Wicketkeeper - Jonny Bairstow, Shreevats Goswami,, Wriddhiman Saha
Bowler - Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan,
Released -
Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj
With a total of three slots to fill (1 overseas) with Rs 10.75 crore remaining, it seems unlikely that SRH are going to hunt for a big money overseas player.
A unique last season
Almost nothing went right for SRH in the last season of the IPL. An injury laden season saw Mitchell Marsh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha
limping off the pitch. With three key players out and their talismanic openers out of form, Hyderabad struggled. There came a point in the season where the team needed someone to step up. And fortunately there were many.
Kane Williamson, brought into the XI to rescue an ailing opening combination and disastrous middle order, scored 317 runs from 12 matches at an average of 45.25. In rare matches that Williamson flattered, Indian fledglings like Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma repaid the faith the franchise has put in them.
In SRH’s match against CSK on 2 October, the youngsters walked into the pitch at a tough phase and bailed out the team by scoring 82 runs between them. Garg was adjudged the man of the match for his brilliant 26 ball 51.
The issue with the younglings like Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Garg and Sharma was that their performances were not consistent enough. Having said that nobody would hold anything against them for not being able to perform against the best in the business in a pandemic ridden world.
Issues & their remedies in Auction
Opening combination
The opening combination of Johnny Bairstow and David Warner have been prolific over the years for SRH, but that changed last season. An automatic choice in any limited overs team in the world, both players struggled for form. Given SRH are a top heavy team with a fixed combination this became a big issue.
While the stats aren’t that bad with Warner 548 runs from 16 matches and Bairstow 345 from 11, fact of the matter is that they were nowhere close to their previous exploits.
With both of them hovering around 128-130 strike rate it took Wriddhiman Saha to provide the impetus at the top deep in the tournament. In the four matches he played before getting sidelined due to a groin injury, Saha scored 214 runs in just four games at a strike rate of 140, much better than the two foreigners.
Safe to say, if Saha stays fit, SRH might try to do the same which will also open an added foreigner spot in the rest of the team.
Injury laden season and One prolific all-rounder
Last season was a freak! With first choice Indian keeper, frontline pacer and their prime all rounder injured, SRH were stretched thin. But, like discussed earlier, people showed up.
One of the best utility substitutions was Jason Holder who had to fly in as an injury substitute to Mitchell Marsh who lasted for just four balls in the tournament. A horrible slip on the crease meant that his ankle took a nasty knock and he had to be flown to Australia for treatment.
Holder in his first season with the Hyderabad franchise took no time to get warmed up. 14 wickets in 7 matches at a strike rate of 16.64? Safe to say, that he is here to stay.
SRH’s persisting middle order issues
I get it! SRH are a top heavy team. The openers are exceptional who can take the game away from the opposition on their day, the number three is probably the best technician with bat the world has ever seen. But, all of that comes at a cost.
Big budget players at the top who need time to express themselves in the crease means that the middle and the lower middle have to go big or get out. This becomes a problem in rare days where there is a downfall at the top, because you just don’t have that kind of firepower down in the middle to make sure that the boat stays afloat.
And this is where Sunrisers should look to plug holes.
If the franchise is looking to trust domestic players to take them through, they could look into the likes of uncapped hitters like Vishnu Solanki and Sharukh Khan, who have been very successful off late.
Both these players can go big and have shown maturity in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that they can repair a broken innings. Their specialisation as a pure batsmen could be fancied by the Hyderabad team because they the likes of Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma who barring their big hitting attributes and can bowl a couple of overs if needed.
Slots that are already booked
It would not be wild to assume that SRH are going to stick to the balance they found late in the tournament last season. The combination they settled in came late in the tournament and included two players that were never sure shot starters for the franchise.
Yes, I am talking about Kane Williamson and Jason Holder. Both were incredible in their leadership and skills with bat and ball respectively and you can almost guarantee that they would be automatic choice this time around.
Oh wait! What if Johnny Bairstow becomes the leading scorer in India vs England series?
No, never mind, get back to the piece.
So, getting back to our combinations.
The confirmed overseas slots are as follows
Rashid Khan
David Warner
Kane Williamson
Jason Holder
This of course means that SRH open with Saha who also doubles up as the keeper and then they bank on an Indian middle order. In the existing set up it would be as follows.
Manish Pandey
Priyam Garg/Vijay Shankar
Abdul Samad
Abhishek Sharma
Once we have that out of our way, SRH will bank upon the bowling prowess of T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma to control the run flow of the opposition innings.
Now that already gives our first XI
Warner ©, Saha (wk), Williamson, Pandey, Garg/Shankar, Samad, Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid, Bhuvi, Natarajan
Against these players you also have a sizable pool of reserves in Johnny Bairstow, Mitchell Marsh, Mohd Nabi, Shreevats Goswami, Sandeep Sharma, Shabaz Nadeem, Khaleel Ahmed and Virat Singh waiting to break into the team.
Potential Targets
Abhimanyu Easwawarn (20 lakhs)
The clear lack for a proper technically good opener has haunted SRH for long. While the choice for an Indian opener means that you would end up shifting down Wriddhi Saha to the middle order, but it is better to have back up in case things go wrong.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has piled up big numbers in the last 4 seasons in domestic cricket and was rewarded a call-up to the Indian side to train as one of the reserves. Not only has he been successful for Bengal, he has done well with the India A side where he was supervised by Rahul Dravid. Despite having an off year with the bat in 2019, Easwaran’s List A average stands at 49.18 from 57 matches. If we were to look more specifically at the T20 side of things, Easwaran bats at an average of 34 from 19 games with a strike rate of 131 in domestic cricket.
Vishnu Solanki (20 lakhs)
The star of the show in the SMAT this season for Baroda, Vishnu Solanki showed nerves of steel when his team was reeling under pressure. Under the pump, Solanki scored 267 runs from eight matches to take his team to the final where the eventually lost against Tamil Nadu
Shakib Al Hasan (2 crores)
An integral part of the team, Shakib Al Hasan and SRH parted ways after the former was banned by the International Cricket Council for not reporting a corruption incident.
Since his return to cricket, Hasan has done well, but his price tag and injury woes could be something that would worry the Sunrisers. But considering that the management does not have much faith in Mohammad Nabi, they could try and sneak in a bid for Hasan in case he comes below the 3 crore mark.
Shahrukh Khan (20 lakhs)
The big hitter from Tamil Nadu earned plaudits from Dinesh Karthik after he pulled off an unlikely rescue effort against Himachal Pradesh in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Not only did he hit the Himachal bowlers all around the park while others looked flummoxed, he hit them with such disdain that it looked like he was batting in a different pitch under different conditions.
His 40* in that game for sure will earn interest from other teams (read Kolkata) but it is possible that his style of batting and his intimidating frame could complement the likes of Jason Holder in the SRH batting line up.
Riley Meredith (40 lakhs)
The big, tall fast bowler from Australia. Oh wait, isn’t that what SRH had in Billy Stanlake whom they let go?
Ya, whatever, Riley Meredith is better for sure.
A genuine pacer who can bowl upwards of 155 kilometers per hour, Meredith has emerged out as one of the best pacers in the Big Bash League this year. Having picked up 12 wickets at a strike rate of just 13.52, Meredith is the perfect back up fast bowler to have. Good thing about Meredith is that he isn’t a one trick pony. The 24-year-old has a good short delivery, a brilliant inswinger and a deceptive cutter that dips in the air, all good attributes to have on an Indian pitch. The only issue could be that Meredith might be in the radar of several teams who have the genuine need of a primary attacker.
So, that gives us our team. The preferred front XI for the Hyderabad based franchise is mostly settled. Given that they have just three slots to fill, it is entirely possible that they will be looking to strengthen their back-ups, especially the Indian ones this season.
If SRH were to stretch it, they could end up buying a good middle order option for the season, but that would be it. Early curtains in the auction to hope for a longer run in the tournament.
