IPL 2023 | Sunrisers Hyderabad - Striving to overcome mediocrity in hunt for clinical old-self

First, they were engulfed in a controversy around the decision to strip off Warner’s captaincy in 2021. Last year, Kane Williamson was supposed to be their main man but he went through the disastrous form and it led them to an eighth-place finish in the points table. At one point of time during the league stage, SRH were appearing to be a strong contender with five wins in a row but five defeats in a row after that hampered their campaign. Overall, they were a quality side but a lack of collective effort from the batting and bowling unit in crucial matches produced poor results in the points table. 

Traditionally, SRH always had a quality bowling unit and that was always their strength. However, in the last two seasons, the bowlers’ form seemed to have waned, and releasing Rashid Khan in the mega auction turned out to be a costly mistake. Also, Warner was their star performer most of the seasons but after he was dropped and eventually released from the squad, the team missed the destruction he used to cause at the top of the batting order.

Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi were the leading run-scorers for the team with a tally of 426 and 413 runs respectively which benefitted the team most in the middle phase of the game. Aiden Markram, Tripathi, and Pooran majorly batted between overs 7 to 15. All of them averaged above 30 during the mentioned period and had a strike rate of 130 or more. The middle stage of the innings was even more beneficial for the team than their title-winning side in 2016. The trio smashed 34 sixes together while  Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, and Yuvraj Singh had hit just 21 sixes together in 2016. There is no doubt that Tirpathi’s form majorly helped the team steer the scoreboard in middle overs and so the franchise scored 73 runs in the mentioned phase on average. Thus, they are placed fourth in the list of teams who scored the most runs between overs 7 to 15. 

Although the bowling unit was not up to the mark for the team, their wicket-taking ability was prolific in the first six overs during the season. They picked 24 wickets from 14 innings last season and the trait was similar to their title-winning side as SRH had scalped 26 wickets in 17 innings seven years ago. SRH turned out to be the joint leaders amongst the teams who took the highest number of wickets. Along with RR, they registered 1.71 wickets per innings during the powerplay. 

Skipper Williamson’s form was the biggest letdown for the franchise and it eventually culminated in the team releasing him ahead of the mini-auction for the IPL 2023. Their batting performance in the powerplay was affected the most as they became the team with the least average runs inside the first six overs. They managed to score only 42.79 runs during powerplay on average and their top three Abhishek, Tripathi, and Williamson were mostly responsible for this. Comparing their performance to the title-winning team in 2016, Warner was the biggest difference as he single-handedly scored 467 runs in the first six overs while the trio amassed only 36 runs more in combination. 

Addressing issues at the auction table

The spin department was the one that they lacked after Rashid’s departure and The Sun network decided to overcome this issue. They picked two quality spinners in T20 leagues around the world - Adil Rashid and Akeal Hosein. The duo will give the team the flexibility to play with the squad and name a strong lineup even on spin-friendly surfaces. 

Here are the details of how the Impact Player rule works. 

SRH have formed a solid batting unit at least on paper and if they will perform according to their reputation, the franchise is going to be an unstoppable force with the bat. Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek, and Tripathi will form their top three while Markram, Harry Brook, and Glen Phillips will combine to form the lower order. They have covered all the bases but Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Natarajan’s form might be their topic of worry. Bhuvneshwar isn’t the old version of himself anymore and his form has slumped in recent years. Also, the left-arm seamer will be coming back from injury and so whether he will bowl as efficiently as last season is a question to be asked.