After a torrid season last year, the Sunrisers Hyderabad hope to get back on track in pursuit of a second Indian Premier League (IPL) title. It’s been 8 years since the team, under the leadership of David Warner, won its first trophy. But things have fallen apart for the Hyderabad-based franchise since then. Reports of possible unrest in the dressing room and too much changing and chopping of resources each season haven’t yielded the results they wanted.
The series of failures has now led to another set of experiments to turn their fortunes. SRH splurged Rs 20.5 crore to have World Cup-winning skipper Pat Cummins on board and then handed him the team’s command. They even changed the outfit ahead of the season, matching it with the jerseys of Sunrisers Eastern Cape who are yet to lose a SA20 title in 2 editions of the tournament.
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It will be interesting to see if the makeover works for the SRH in IPL 2024. But before the season commences, here are some interesting facts to have a look at.
How SRH Fared Last Season
IPL 2023 was one the worst season for the Sunrisers as they ended at the last spot on the points table. They managed 4 wins out of 14 games and lost 10, settling at the 10th position with 8 points and a Net Run Rate of -0.590.
Players to Watch Out for
Pat Cummins: The Australian spearhead returns to the IPL, and how. Cummins, who was roped in for a whopping amount of Rs 20.5 crore, was appointed the skipper of the side and will inspire the team to win their 2nd IPL title, just like he did with his Aussie side twice last year.
Travis Head: Returning to the league after 8 years, Head will bring his experience that helped the Aussies lift a couple of ICC trophies, that too, against India. He has represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past and has decent numbers too; 205 runs in 10 games and fifty.
Shahbaz Ahmad: After playing largely for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru during his 4-year-old career, the Bengal all-rounder is here in Hyderabad via the trading window. Shahbaz is certainly a utility player and a bargain buy at that. He chips in with the ball and gets some handy wickets and can smash big runs as well. He has scored 321 runs in 39 games and has picked 14 wickets.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The senior-most Indian pacer has been leading the franchise’s bowling unit for years. Bhuvneshwar may have lost his spot in the Indian dressing room but he keeps on causing stir in the domestic circuit. He ended among the top wicket-takers in the inaugural edition of the UPT20 earlier in September, picking up 14 wickets in 9 matches. He continued with the momentum in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 with 16 wickets in 7 matches. In the IPL itself, the veteran of 160 games has pocketed 170 wickets so far.
Strongest XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Upendra Yadav (wk) Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Pat Cummins (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan.
Full Squad
Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Jaydev Unadkat, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Heinrich Klaasen, Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed (Traded from RCB), Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Fazalhaq Farooqi
SRH Schedule (I Phase)
KKR vs SRH – 23rd March – Kolkata
SRH vs MI – 27th March – Hyderabad
GT vs SRH – 31st March – Ahmedabad
SRH vs CSK – 5th April – Hyderabad
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