Sunrisers would look for resurgence, redemption
The former champion led by Pat Cummins, which took the wooden spoon in the last edition, has a good mix of foreign recruits and experienced domestic players to handle the big task
Former champion Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) would like to step on to the field with a lot of optimism this season despite having finished at the bottom of the pile in the previous edition.
Head coach, and former New Zealand leftarm spinner, Daniel Vettori should be conscious of the fact that it has to settle down into the groove very early in the league to get the momentum and more importantly sustain it.
Led by Pat Cummins, who captained Australia to the 50over World Cup triumph, has a big task on hand — getting the combination right and bringing the best out of the domestic talent.
Though explosive batters like Aiden Markram, Travis Head, the matchwinning centurion in the World Cup final, Heinrich Klaasen, and Glenn Phillips would be key to the 2016 champion’s fortunes, it is imperative for Indians like Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, leftarm spinning allrounder Abhishek Sharma, and Rahul Tripathi to come good in batting.
Dilemma
The thinktank will face a dilemma as to whom to pick from the foreign pool even as it has plenty of options in case a couple them fail to come good.
With Cummins, wicketkeeperbatter Klaasen, and Head being certain to play in most of the games, it would be interesting to see who among Markram, Phillips and Hasaranga would be consistently preferred. of
Cummins to spearhead
In bowling, Cummins will spearhead an attack which has the experience of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, leftarm pacer T. Natarajan, the fiery Umran Mallik, and Jaydev Unadkat to provide the early breakthroughs.
It will be interesting to see how the middleovers are marshalled by the likes of legspinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Mayank Markande, and the leftarm spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma.
The Eden test
Sunrisers need to get going from the opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on March 23.
Head. INSTAGRAM/SUNRISERSHYD
Played
Twice.
The record certainly is not bad for Lucknow Super Giants in the world’s most glamorous cricket league. It is indeed no small feat to make it to the knockout stage on both its appearances at the IPL.
LSG’s campaign, however, ended in the Eliminator match on both the occasions. K.L. Rahul’s men will want to improve that record this season.
Rahul wasn’t there when his team qualified for the Eliminator; he had, in fact, missed the latter stage of the tournament with a leg injury. He also had to withdraw from the recent Test series against India due to injury after playing the first match at Hyderabad. With the T20 World Cup coming up, the IPL also offers an excellent chance to present his case; his last T20I was in November, 2022.
Rahul is one of the more consistent batters in T20 cricket — with an average in excess of 42 and six hundreds from 212 matches — but he has been criticised for his strikerate, which may not be among the highest. But as long as he bats long enough, LSG may not complain.
The batting, featuring the likes of Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers — the West Indian was one of the pleasant surprises in his maiden season last year — Deepak Hooda and the explosive Nicholas Pooran, is strengthened further by the addition of Devdutt Padikkal. The likes of Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya ensure twice.
Qualified
The LSG players listen intently to coach Langer’s inputs. SANDEEP SA◣ENA
depth and power.
The loss of Mark Wood is a blow, but his replacement is one of the most exciting new talents in the game.
Shamar Joseph, the hero of West Indies’ sensational Test win at Brisbane
recently, may have little experience in T20s, but the other new overseas pacebowling recruit, David Willey, has plenty of it; there are, in fact, more options in the form of NaveenulHaq, Shivam Mavi, Yash Thakur, Mohsin Khan and
the rookie Mayank Yadav, who can work up good pace.
Ravi Bishnoi will lead the spin attack, which also contains the seasoned Amit Mishra, Krunal, K. Gowtham and the new arrival M. Siddharth.