SRH will play RR in their IPL 2022 opener in Pune on March 29.
It was a tumultuous IPL 2021 edition for the SRH team as they not only finished at the bottom of the points table with only three wins from 14 matches, the team management and former captain David Warner went to war over the team’s performance, which saw him being dropped as captain, replaced with Kane Williamson and then unceremoniously axed from the playing XI as well.
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Well in the IPL 2022 auction, SRH went in with only three players retained in Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, and Umran Malik. Their most expensive buy was Nicholas Pooran for INR 10.75 crores, while they also splurged on Washington Sundar (INR 8.75 crs), Rahul Tripathi (INR 8.50 crs), and Romario Shepherd (INR 7.75 crs).
They also managed to buy back Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan along with Abhishek Sharma in the auction.
Kane Williamson was retained by the SRH franchise not only for his brilliant batting skills but also for his leadership acumen as he will be captaining the side for the IPL 2022. It is also expected that he might open the innings as well.
However, SRH has two better options for the opening slot in Abhishek Sharma, who can use the 6 overs of the powerplay to the team’s advantage, while Aiden Markram can play through the innings comfortably. Williamson can nicely slot in at no.3 or 4 with Rahul Tripathi for company.
The pace department will be a set SRH regular one with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, and Umran Malik taking on the duties. They can then pick one from Romario Shepherd, Marco Jansen, Sean Abbott, and Fazalhaq Farooqi to bolster the pace attack with foreign talent.
SRH also has in store the likes of Shreyas Gopal, J Suchith, and Kartik Tyagi in young bowlers giving them plenty of options to choose from.
COC presents Possible Playing XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Kane Williamson (C), Nicholas Pooran (WK), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, T Natarajan, Umran Malik