IPL preview - Sunrisers Hyderabad
The orange army will be hoping to bounce back from what was, to put it lightly, a dreadful campaign last time out. They finished bottom of the table, with just three wins to their name, the joint worst effort since RCB in 2017, who also managed three wins. It was a season of chaos, that saw injuries, a captaincy change, a possible falling out between former captain & head coach and plenty of average cricket was played.
We should probably let them off the hook after one poor season, after all, they’d managed to reach the play offs in the previous five seasons, winning once in 2016. Indeed, they were the last team not named MI/CSK to win the tournament, since then, we’ve had five seasons of dominance from the two big boys of IPL.
Following the disappointing season last time out, Trevor Bayliss left the franchise he had joined after departing as England head coach. In truth, it was an underwhelming reign, Bayliss failed to make an imprint and the style of cricket we saw was worlds apart from the England team he oversaw, leaving doubts as to how much of that re-build he can actually be credited with. VVS Laxman and Brad Haddin were two other members of the previous coaching staff that left the franchise.
The departure of Bayliss, has left Tom Moody in full control of the team, as head coach, Moody has been a stalwart of Sunrisers Hyderabad, having been a part of the franchise in eight of their nine IPL seasons. Under Moody, they’ve established a coaching group that probably wouldn’t be far off matching some of the performances SRH put in last season, with Dale Steyn, Simon Katich, Muttiah Muralitharan and Brian Lara all featuring as coaches for SRH.
I guess the first port-of-call ahead of the new season was sorting out the retentions and they didn’t exactly get off to the perfect start in that regard. SRH retained Williamson, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik, in isolation, you wouldn't say that was a terrible outcome. However, when you consider the price they paid for Williamson (14cr) and the fact they failed to retain Rashid Khan - who should’ve been one of the most obvious retentions out there, it was a fairly miserable outcome. Retaining Abdul Samad and Umran Malik as uncapped retentions was a positive move, two extremely talented players from the Jammu & Kashmir region. It also left them with a big purse of 68cr heading into the auction, only Punjab Kings had a higher amount to spend. A big purse doesn’t always correlate with smart decision making, so, how did SRH do?
Squad:
Retentions: Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad and Rahul Tripathi.
SRH had a mixed auction, they managed to pick of some players for very reasonable prices e.g; Bhuvi (4cr), Kartik Tyagi (4cr) & Markram (2.6cr) but also over paid for some; Tripathi (8.5cr), Pooran (10.75cr) and Shepherd (7.75cr) and I don’t say that lightly, as one of the biggest Pooran fans around, paying almost 11cr for him is a little steep though.
It’s certainly an intriguing squad that SRH have managed to build, with plenty of talented players around but one that certainly looks like it has gaps, not least the absence of an established wrist spinner. With an average age of just over 26, it’s a slightly younger squad than we’re used to seeing from SRH:
It isn’t a massive difference by any means but they’ve typically been in the 27–28 year range for the average age of their squad in the previous five seasons.
I might be seeing things differently to others but to me, it looks like SRH have gone with a similar template to the one that CSK won the league with last season. In the sense a likely XI isn’t likely to feature wrist spin but has a couple of orthodox spin options, though it’ll mainly be pace bowling and the emphasis they’ve placed on batting depth, an example of that would be the recruitment of Romario Shepherd for nearly 8cr. I’m not necessarily a massive fan of the approach to be honest and I think CSK were fairly fortunate to win last season, through a combination of some great captaincy and over performance from individuals they managed to do it though. I don’t think we’ll see the same outcome for this SRH team.
Possible XI:
At the time of writing SRH have already played one match, against Rajasthan Royals and it was one to forget. They were completely outclassed, falling to a 61 run defeat, a margin that would’ve been even greater if it wasn’t for a lower order blitz from Washington Sundar. This is the XI they fielded for their opening game:
There weren’t really many surprises here, the biggest decision they had to make coming into that game was which of their domestic pace bowlers they decided to leave out, with Bhuvi, Natarajan, Malik & Tyagi competing for three spots in the XI. They went down the route I expected, choosing to play the two ‘senior’ pacers and one of Malik/Tyagi, I don’t think there’s an obvious option here but perhaps Bhuvi, Malik and Tyagi is the one with the most potential upside.
I was relieved to see that SRH were willing to show some sort of flexibility with their batting line up, having indicated that they purchased Pooran to bat at 5 after the auction, a position that probably doesn’t suit his skillset right now. They batted him at four in the opening match, a move that would generally be considered as a positive one, ironically, given the situation he came into, promoting Markram would’ve been the better choice. With the team that SRH have built, they can’t really afford to make basic mistakes like that if they want to have any chance of reaching the play offs this season.
I don’t expect them to make many changes in terms of team balance, though they do have the option to play two overseas bowlers if one of the overseas batters isn’t performing. Bringing someone like Marco Jansen would also make them far less reliant on Bhuvi in the search for early wickets.
Team Strengths:
Pace bowling options - They event went overboard in this regard, to the point where they were probably just wasting money. Having retained Umran Malik at 4cr, SRH picked up three domestic pace bowlers at auction (Bhuvi, Tyagi and Natarjan) for a combined total of 12cr, which was very good work in my opinion. Quit while you’re ahead? Not for SRH, they went on to add a further FOUR overseas pace options, buying Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd, Sean Abbott and Fazalhaq Farooqi, the latter two didn't exactly break the bank (2.4 & 0.5cr respectively) but surely those two spots could’ve been better utilised. Perhaps on an overseas wrist/mystery spin option or a specific back up for one of their overseas batters. Having said that, it does leave them with a lot of options and quite a few of them are above average bowlers, if they can find the right combination, SRH could have one of the better pace attacks this season.
Batting depth - Especially if Washington Sundar has shown progress in his lower-order hitting this looks to be one of the main strengths of SRH. Having Shepherd and Sundar at 7 & 8 is better than a lot of teams have to offer this season. They don’t necessarily have ideal role players through the middle if Williamson is dismissed early on, they need him to offer some sort of stability so that the likes of Tripathi & Pooran can have optimal entry points.
Team Weaknesses:
Spin attack - I can never fully get behind an XI without a wrist/mystery spin option, it just seems like a strange choice to go in without one, considering they’ve consistently had a greater wicket taking threat than their orthodox spin counterparts and they’re less susceptible to being taken down by a matchup. The orthodox spinners they’ve got are good, I’ve always been a big fan of Washington Sundar and I think Abhishek has quite a lot of potential but their spin attack is definitely one of the weakest and I don’t see how it’ll take wickets regularly.
Top order against pace - Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran are players that struggle against high pace, while Abhishek Sharma doesn’t look the most convincing against it either. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue in the last two IPL seasons, however, in the context of this season where the new ball is zipping through, it looks problematic. SRH can’t afford to have too many games where Williamson is dismissed early in the match and they also need to be more flexible with the role of Markram, perhaps even using him at 3 if Williamson is dismissed first.
Lacking phase variety - Even though they’ve got a lot of pace bowling options, the versatility in terms of crucial phase overs isn’t quite there. Umran Malik is talented but is mainly bowling through the middle overs so far in his IPL career, while Romario Shepherd isn’t exactly a reliable bowler in any phase at higher levels. Natarajan is their main option at the death, though his numbers aren’t necessarily as good as one would expect in that phase. While Bhuvi is pretty much their go-to option in the powerplay. In conclusion, despite having four pace bowlers in their line up, they still look like they’re lacking powerplay overs, which shouldn’t really happen in my opinion.
Player Notes:
Kane Williamson - If you follow me on twitter, you’ll probably know my thoughts on Williamson the t20 player and thus the decision to retain him at 14cr. Since his golden IPL season in 2018, his IPL and t20 performances in general have been underwhelming and not indicative of a player that should be one of the highest-paid players in the tournament:
Irrespective of what he may offer as a leader, 14cr for him isn’t value for money at all. He has been a below average IPL performer in the last few seasons. Having said that, SRH don’t need Kane to do anything special this season, if he provides security and a high run-scoring season he would’ve done is job, providing it isn’t done at a completely awful strike rate, that’s not worth 14cr but that should be his aim. It will be up to more aggressive players like Abhishek, Tripathi, Pooran etc to bat around Williamson this season. I expect we’ll see a similar template in most of his innings this season, a relatively slow start, looking to see off the new ball in the first few overs, before playing more aggressively in overs 5 & 6 (sometimes earlier) where he’ll look to utilise his ability to loft over the in-field. Through the first half of the middle overs he won’t take a huge amount of risk against spin but will look to capitalise on any match ups or pace bowled as we get closer to the death overs.
Abhishek Sharma - Some would say SRH have overpaid here and that would probably be valid, however, I don’t mind this deal, given Abhishek’ skillset. There were also plenty of other teams looking to get him, with both Punjab and RCB bidding heavily for him. It looks like he’ll get a run at the top of the order, which is where he has spent quite a lot of time batting in the SMA trophy. His role looks fairly obvious this season, he’ll look to exploit the powerplay and take run scoring pressure off Williamson.
Rahul Tripathi - Again maybe someone they slightly overpaid for. Tripathi’s versatility and willingness to attack from ball one certainly has value though, his first 10 balls SR of 136 last season, was well above the tournament average of 115. His IPL returns have generally been quite inconsistent, though he has had two very good seasons (2017 & 2021), in both of which he almost scored 400 runs, at strike rates of over 140. Only Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal scored more runs and did so at a higher strike rate than Tripathi last season.
Nicholas Pooran - His quality against spin is well-documented but it certainly feels like teams have become wiser to that and are seeing him as one of the main threats in a side, as such they’re targeting him early on in his innings. His returns have certainly dropped off, I thought this might have been as a result of facing less spin but that hasn’t been the case. From 2018–20 & 2021 onwards there’s less than 1% difference between the % of deliveries he’s faced in t20’s from spinners, though it was slightly higher from 2018–20 than more recently. The more recent move to promote him to 3 for the West Indies in t20’s is certainly a positive one and one that should help his development against high pace and his returns there have been pretty good; averaging 43 and strike rate of over 140 since 2021, though his weakness against high pace has been shielded by batting with Rovman Powell regularly. Can he replicate a similar dynamic with Aiden Markram?
Aiden Markram - Markram has adapted really well to a middle order role - a task that many players are unable to crack. Firstly in the IPL last season for Punjab and then at the t20 WC for South Africa. He has good numbers against both pace & spin, which should allow SRH to be flexible with his batting position, if they just keep him with a rigid position at number 5, they won’t get the best out of him. I’m not fully convinced that he can pick a lot of leg spinners but his numbers aren’t bad against them, might be something to eep a close eye on.
Abdul Samad - Undoubtedly a talented player, looks likely to bat at 6 in most games, which probably isn’t ideal for his development. He has batted in a more flexible role in domestic matches and that’s resulted in some impressive numbers; average 48 and SR 153, batting him at 6 in every game won’t give him the opportunity to learn how to build an innings at higher levels.
Romario Shepherd - He definitely has batting quality, boasting a strike rate of 160 since 2019, in addition to hitting a six every 8 deliveries. Whether that, in combination with the current level of his bowling is enough to justify a 7.75cr price tag is an entirely different question. Shepherd has decent CPL numbers but has struggled to make the step up to international level, with an economy rate that currently sits at 11.22 rpo after 14 matches. He has been expensive in all phases but particularly at the death, which is one of his main selling points as a t20 bowler, he has gone at 13.5 rpo so far for West Indies in this phase.
Washington Sundar - Has already managed to forge a decent career in the shortest format, despite being an ‘orthodox’ spinner. He has been one of the best IPL spinners when it comes to limiting boundaries:
Ranking fifth best of the spinners that have bowled at least 75 overs since the start of the 2018 season. He is also a viable option against LHB & RHB, going at under 7.5 rpo, perhaps a possible reason for this is because of his high release point and speeds he bowls at. I believe his average pace of just over 97kmph is the fastest of any spinner in the competition. The conditions he’s likely to face this season will provide a bigger test than ever for him, evidence of that was all too apparent in their season opener, where he went for 47 runs in only three overs. It was his second most expensive IPL spell of all time and only the second time he has conceded more than 40 runs in a spell. He did somewhat make up for it with an excellent 40 (14) with the bat, if he has improved his power game that would be a massive bonus for SRH.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Definitely not the bowler he once was but a still a useful asset you’d expect and at 4cr it looks like very reasonable value. In typical Bhuvi fashion, he’ll bowl a high percentage of his overs in the powerplay and SRH should be aggressive with their usage of him. The problem for them will be that if they don’t have a threat at the other end, teams will be able to play more cautiously against him. The speeds shown in the graphics towards the end of this article are generous to Bhuvi, his pace has dropped off in the last 1–2 years as a result of the numerous injuries he has suffered.
Umran Malik - Possibly the quickest domestic bowler in the IPL at the moment? Before making his debut for SRH towards the end of last season he only had one SMA appearance under his name. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength, going to the t20 WC as a net bowler for India and also being chosen as one of the three retentions for SRH. It’s still early days but as of right now it wouldn’t surprise me if he plays for India in the near future. His average speed in the few games he played last season was over 142kmph, if he can maintain that over the course of a full season he’ll cause serious problems.
T Natarjan - Possibly a bit overrated? Considering one of his main selling points is as a death overs bowler, his economy of 10.13 in this phase is okay, without being anything spectacular. He does have a good yorker but when he misses, he doesn’t have the pace to get away with it very often.
Marco Jansen - Another win for the MI scouting department, though they won’t get to reap the benefits from it this time. When Mumbai picked him up at base price last year, not many knew who he was, since then, he has gone on to debut for South Africa in two formats. He hasn’t played many t20 games but standing at 6ft8 and capable of bowling 140+ already, it’s difficult to see how he won’t make an impact in this format in the long-term. I’d like to see him play regularly this season and it should be possible, particularly if Sundar has shown progression in his power hitting.
Glenn Phillips - I’m not as big on him as I once was but it’s a decent signing in my opinion, he can cover multiple positions and is good against pace & spin, a good squad player. My reason for not being as keen on him as I once was is because he has had a tendency to start his innings slower of late, his first 10 balls SR in 2021 was under 105 and even in the t20 blast/Hundred, he didn't excel in this regard. Good six hitter - clearing the ropes better than every 12 deliveries.
Fazalhaq Farooqi - An exciting pick up at base price, the left arm Afghan pacer has done well whenever he has had a chance. Firstly in t10’s and then more recently in white ball cricket for Afghanistan and this IPL deal is recognition for that. One of the main things that Farooqi has going for him is that he seems to be a genuine multi-phase bowler, possessing the ability to swing the new ball as well as death overs skills, he also probably has the pace to bowl as an enforcer through the middle.
Sean Abbott - I’m not completely sure why they signed him, with the pace options they already had in the squad. Australian bowlers have also typically struggled in the IPL, he does have powerplay wicket taking threat but I’m not convinced he is an IPL-level bowler.
Kartik Tyagi - Certainly very highly rated on twitter, perhaps the 4cr price tag is an indication he isn’t quite as highly rated by IPL franchises? Nevertheless, Tyagi would be a decent third pace option for an IPL team and can probably count himself unlucky to not be a likely starter in a ten team IPL. Quick but not quite as quick as Umran Malik.
Vishnu Vinod - Good numbers in domestic cricket but that boundary percentage is quite low and is possibly the main reason why he hasn’t had a chance at IPL level yet.
Shreyas Gopal - His IPL numbers have really fallen off, following two very good seasons for Rajasthan. Despite that drop off, his performances have still been reliable for Karnataka in domestic cricket, hopefully he gets chances this season.
Player stats sheet:
Summary
In conclusion, I think SRH are a much better side than they showed in their season opener against Rajasthan. It’s quite a weird squad that they’ve put together but there’s certainly some exciting talent in the mix and a group of players that should improve in the coming years.
Whether or not they can compete immediately is a completely different question. The lack of a quality wrist spin option and the overseas balance they look likely to go with, leaves them up against it in my opinion. Overall, I don’t think they’ll be too far adrift and could have an outside chance of making the play offs if the top order players around Kane can fire.
Thanks for reading!
Stats: cricmetric
