Will IPL 2024 signal a new dawn for Sunrisers Hyderabad, the most underachieving team in the last few IPL seasons?
After winning the 2016 IPL title, SRH carried on the momentum and were quite consistent -- finishing runners up in 2018, as they made the play-offs each year between 2017 and 2020.
However, they have hit a sharp downward curve in the last three years, failing to make it past the league stages.
Last season, SRH managed just four out of 14 matches to finish bottom of the standings.
A desperate Sunrisers have hit the reset button this season, bringing in Australia's World Cup winning captain Pat Cummins and their star batter in Travis Head as their top signings for IPL 2024.
Heinrich Klassen was the lone standout performer with the bat for SRH last season but failed to get enough support.
Sunrisers, who have a new head coach in Daniel Vettori this season, have brought in Head to add some much-needed world class experience to the batting line-up.
There is no shortage of quality in the power-packed SRH batting line-up featuring Aiden Markram, Klaasen, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi and Head.
This year, the bowling has been strengthened with the addition of experienced names like Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat.
However, SRH have suffered a blow ahead of IPL 2024 with Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga set to miss at least the first three matches. He has been banned for the two Tests against Bangladesh after breaching the ICC Code of Conduct and it remains be seen if he joins SRH from the start of the IPL.
If Hasaranga is not available, then leggie Mayank Markande could lead the spin department along with spin all-rounder Washington Sundar, who can also be considered a frontline spinner in T20 cricket.
Then there is also Hong Kong's young leg-spinner Jhatavedh Subramanyan, who was picked at the IPL auction after some fine performances with the ball in the Tamil Nadu Premier League last year. The 24 year old can also bowl left-arm finger spin if needed.
Veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar will share the pace bowling duties with Cummins and Unadkat, while the young pace duo of Umran Malik and Thangarasu Natarajan will also be looking for some good performances with the ball to get back in the India reckoning.
All-rounders Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed lend a lot of balance to the team, which has some fine domestic batting stars in Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi and Abdul Samad.
There is enough quality in the SRH squad but if remains to be seen if they will all perform in unison and get back Sunrisers to the top.
Players to watch out for"
Travis Head
Australia's most consistent batter across formats could lead the batting hopes for SRH. He is back in the IPL after a long gap having last played for RCB in 2016 and 2017.
Head is the man for the big occasion. He stroked a match-winning 137 in the ODI World Cup final to power Australia to victory against India while he was the man of the match in the World Test Championship final against the same opponents.
Pat Cummins
SRH will be hoping that Cummins continues his successful run as captain in IPL 2024. After leading Australia to the WTC and the ODI World Cup titles, he was named as SRH captain for IPL 2024.
Cummins is quite experienced in T20 cricket, having picked up 145 wickets in 130 games, while he can be quite devastating with the bat in the final overs.
He holds the record for the second fastest fifty in IPL when he smashed an unbeaten 56 off 14 balls playing for KKR against MI in IPL 2022.
Umran Malik
The J&K fast bowler took IPL 2022 by storm with some mind-boggling spells with the ball.
He made everyone stand up and take notice as he claimed a five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans while clocking 157 kmph against Delhi Capitals for the fastest delivery bowled by an Indian in the IPL.
Such was his impact with the ball that he was fast-tracked into the Indian ODI and T20I teams.
But last season proved to be a struggle as Umran managed just five wickets at an economy rate of 10 and played just eight games for SRH.
Umran will be keen to bounce back after the horror showing last year.
Washington Sundar
Washington needs a good showing in the IPL to win his place back in the Indian team.
The all-rounder didn't do much last season for SRH as he struggled with both bat and ball.
He is very dependable in T20 cricket and capable of bowling at any stage of the game, be with the new ball or in the middle overs.
Heinrich Klaasen
One of the world's explosive batters in T20 cricket.
Last season, he was one of the few bright spots in a nightmarish campaign for SRH as he smashed his way to 448 runs in 12 games at a strike rate of 177, with a century and two fifties.
What makes Klaasen such a dangerous proposition with the bat is that the South African is capable of taking on the best of spinners with his ability to clear the ground with ease.
He has been in good hitting form recently, as he scored 447 in 13 matches in the SA20 at an amazing strike rate of 207.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Batters
Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Anmolpreet Singh, Abdul Samad, Glenn Phillips
Wicketkeepers
Heinrich Klaasen, Upendra Singh Yadav
All-rounders
Pat Cummins (captain), Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy
Bowlers
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Thangarasu Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Jhathavedh Subramanyan
