IPL 2017 | With Warner and Yuvraj, Can holders Sunrisers Hyderabad replicate previous year's magic

In sports, it is always considered an uphill task for the defending champions to replicate previous year’s heroics in the current season. Sunrisers Hyderabad, the title holders of the IPL-9, too should not be naïve enough to expect a cakewalk this time around. But, the team with an arsenal of world-class all-rounders may show up as dark horses if they find their mojo well from the beginning.

The not-so-new team surprised many pundits and cricket enthusiasts in the previous season by winning the title defeating the mighty Royal Challengers Bengalore (RCB). The likes of David Warner, Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhavan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and many more exciting young players look capable enough to defend their title.

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With just three years of IPL experience in hand, the team has done a commendable job on and off the field. 

During the IPL auction, some smart thinking by the team management resulted in a power-packed squad. The defending champions had a reason to be happy with the way the IPL auction panned out.

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By retaining 17 players of the title-winning team, they smartly moved away from the race to sign Ben Stokes when the bidding crossed the 12-crore mark. It shows that they had firm belief in their team.

With only 91 out of 351 players managed to bag an IPL contract, only 10 of those were inducted into the SRH. It indicates that team coached by Tom Moody was sensible enough not to not chase just the big stars of the game.

The selection of the likes of Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar,  Deepak Hooda and Aditya Tare, they exhibited that the side was looking for a well-balanced team. However, the fact that they ignored spin wizard Imran Tahir, will make them ponder over their selection in the later stages of the tournament.

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The team mentor VVS Laxman too looked pleased with the auctions and believes that the franchise has been able to fill the gaps and covered all aspects of the team.

Let's look at the SRH squad for IPL 10:

BATSMEN

David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal,

BOWLERS

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Singh Sran, Siddarth Kaul, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ben Laughlin, Mohammed Siraj, Rashid Khan, Praveen Tambe

ALL-ROUNDERS

Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Ben Cutting, Bipul Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Md. Nabi, Chris Jordan

Players to watch out for

Sunrisers Hyderabad have a promising squad, courtesy smart shopping in IPL auction, and will look to be the second team to win the tournament consecutively.

In David Warner, the SRH have a captain who leads from the front. The quick-thinking Aussie has is famous for his aggressive batting style. 
In Yuvraj Singh, the team has an al-rounder who can turn the game on its heads on any given day. The likes of Kane Willamson and Shikhar Dhawan too provide enough depth in the batting line-up. In the bowling segment, the squad can look up to their most experienced fast bowler Ashish Nehra. 

The likes of  Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman too are capable of upsetting even the most dangerous batting line-up.

Strength

The top batting order of the SRH can do wonders in the tournament. Warner, Dhawan, Williamson are the ones who can light up the stage with stellar performances. The bowling department too has a good mix of experience and youth to unsettle their opponents. 

Weakness

The team doesn’t look like an impregnable fort due to the shaky middle order. Barring Yuvraj Singh, the squad falls short of reliable middle order batsman once the top batting line-up fails.

Head Coach: Tom Moody