It was a no-brainer that Sunrisers Hyderabad, led by Australian captain Pat Cummins, would retain its top four run-getters for the Tata-IPL-18 season.
The remarkable stroke-making, hitting ability, and the gift to unleash in the first six over power play of its opening pair in Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma enabled those following them in Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy to pile up useful runs.
Substantial contribution from the top three in Head (567 runs), Sharma (484) and Klaasen (429) powered the Sunrisers to decent totals last year.
Reddy, the local boy, made 303 and took only three wickets, but his overall value and being a homegrown talent simply could not be ignored by the franchise. Now his stock has risen after his good showing in the five-Test series in Australia.
Cummins (18 wickets) was the fifth player retained, and it must be acknowledged that the franchise, guided by Head Coach Daniel Vettori, made smart calls to trust those who delivered and took their team to the final after six years. The Sunrisers had won the title in 2016 and lost to Chennai Super Kings two years later.
Unfortunately, the franchise could not retain left-arm seamer T. Natarajan, who topped the bowling honours last season with 19 wickets. They also did not pitch for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, their highest wicket-taker with 157 scalps in 145 matches. Natarajan will play for the Delhi Capitals this season and Kumar for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The Sunrisers is a team for which white-ball stalwarts like David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Rashid Khan, Dale Steyn, and, of course, seamer Kumar have turned out. It has built a reputation around the big stars. But the team could not produce consistent results in spite of having famous names in the support staff. .
Last year, the franchise revamped the side, bringing in Vettori as the head coach (he is also the assistant coach of the Australian team). The former New Zealand left-arm spinner became the fourth head coach in six years; the previous three being Australians Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss and West Indian Brian Lara. First and foremost, Vettori picked Cummins and Head at the 2024 auction, a choice that worked well, as the team had finished tenth in the previous season.
The Sunrisers were outplayed by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in last year’s final at the Chepauk, Chennai, with the left-hand fast bowler Mitchell Starc ejecting Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in quick time. Head was consumed by seamer Vaibhav Arora first ball and the Sunrisers were never in with a chance to post a competitive target. It made 113 and the Knight Riders chased it down in 10.3 overs.
At the auction in Jeddah, the franchise successfully bid for Ishan Kishan for Rs.11.25 crore. The free-flowing left-hander and powerful hitter can be expected to up the scoring rate at any given point in time. Kishan is a seasoned campaigner, having played 105 IPL matches for Gujarat Lions (16 matches) and Mumbai Indians (89). He scored 8.21 runs an over for Mumbai.
The Sunrisers also chose Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis at the auction. Last year's runner-up team's batting will revolve around Head, Sharma, Klaasen, Kishan, and Reddy. The opening pair, Head and Sharma, made 599 in thirteen matches/ innings last season, which was nearly 25 percent of the team's score in as many innings.
They were involved in three century-plus stands and two half-century stands. Head and Sharma were also involved in five solid partnerships for the second wicket, ranging between 42 and 72 runs. Either Head or Sharma extended their partnerships to the third wicket. From the fourth or fifth wicket stands, the Sunrisers would hope for some big digs from Kishan and Reddy.
Cummins will lead the bowling, and this time he is likely to share the new ball with Mohammed Shami, let go by the Gujarat Titans, and bought by the Sunrisers at the Jeddah auction for Rs.10 crore. Shami's experience is phenomenal and he staged a strong comeback in the recent ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai.
Shami has 127 wickets in 110 IPL matches. He bowled without much stress in the Champions Trophy, but his workload in the IPL may need to be managed to keep him fit for the five-Test series in England starting mid-June.
The other pace bowling options are South African Wiaan Mulder, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Simarjeet Singh, and Sri Lankan Eshan Malinga. The spin department has efficient leg-spinners Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, and Abhinav Manohar. Manohar doubles up as an impact player. The franchise also bought Kerala captain Sachin Baby—who bats left-handed and bowls off-breaks—at Rs.30 lakh at the auction.
The Sunrisers played 16 matches and won nine. last year, for a winning percentage of 56. 25. They won five of the six matches at their home ground in Uppal, Hyderabad. They must repeat the show to make the playoffs. They have the firepower in batting alone to take one of the top four spots.
Published: 15 Mar 2025, 06:50 pm IST
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