Widely regarded as one of the toughest T20 competitions in the world, only a few teams have managed to win the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) title since its inception in 2008. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are one such team having won their prestigious title in 2016 under the leadership of David Warner. SRH were runner-ups two years after their 2016 success in 2018, and made it to the playoffs in 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2020 as well. But they haven’t advanced beyond the league stage in the past three years, and finished at the bottom of the standings in 2021 and 2023.
Ever since IPL 2021, SRH have looked like an unsettled unit and have changed captains three times in just as many years with Warner at the helm in 2021, Kane Williamson in 2022, and Aiden Markram in 2023.
SRH’s head coaches, too, haven’t been afforded the luxury of settling in. Trevor Bayliss was in charge in 2021, Tom Moody in 2022, and Brian Lara in 2023.
IPL 2024 will see the 2016 champions being led by another new skipper in Australia’s Pat Cummins and they also have a couple of new faces in the coaching staff with Daniel Vettori as head coach and James Franklin as their fast bowling coach.
In November 2023, SRH got Shahbaz Ahmed after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) traded him for Mayank Dagar in the trading window.
Later, in the mini-auction, SRH shattered all bidding records by acquiring the services of Australia’s World Cup-winning captain, Pat Cummins for a whopping 20.5 crore – second only to the record 24.75 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) paid for Mitchell Starc.
Apart from Cummins, they also got some steals in Travis Head (6.8 crore) and Wanindu Hasaranga (1.5 crore), both of whom will strengthen their overseas contingent.
As per the two-week schedule announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), SRH kickstart their IPL 2024 season against KKR at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 23.
As SRH prepare for a new season under a new skipper, let’s take a look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strength
SRH have traditionally been a bowling-heavy side having defended low totals on plenty of occasions in the past and the arrival of Pat Cummins will only improve Hyderabad’s pace battery.
Last year, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mayank Markande were among the wickets but they didn’t get much support from the rest of their bowling attack. IPL 2023 saw Bhuvneshwar and Markande scalp 16 and 12 wickets at decent economies of 8.3 and 7.8, respectively.
Furthermore, the addition of Wanindu Hasaranga will act as a boost to the relatively inexperienced spin department of SRH. The Sri Lankan T20I captain will join forces with the likes of Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jhathavedh Subramanyan, and Markande.
Overall, the Hyderabad franchise has a quality overseas contingent. Their new buys – Cummins, Head, and Hasaranga will share the dressing room with the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Glenn Phillips, Marco Jansen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and former skipper Aiden Markram.
Weakness
Unlike other IPL franchises, SRH lack prominent Indian players who regularly play international cricket. They do have renowned domestic players like Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Umran Malik, and Abdul Samad but they haven’t been at their best in recent white-ball tournaments like the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023-24 and the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023-24.
None of the Indian batters scored more than 300 runs for SRH last year. Rahul Tripathi and Mayank Agarwal had topsy-turvy campaigns with 273 and 270 runs respectively.
Opportunities
The appointment of Pat Cummins as SRH skipper received mixed reactions but there’s no doubting his captaincy pedigree at the international level.
Cummins has done a magnificent job for Australia’s national side as a captain in the last two years. In 2023, the 30-year-old won the ODI World Cup in India, the World Test Championship and also retained the Ashes in England.
Meanwhile, Indian veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been out of India’s T20I schemes for a long time. He last played a T20I game for India in November 2022. However, he’s had a good domestic season and will hope to carry his momentum into IPL 2024 as he eyes a spot in India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June.
Threat
SRH won only four of their 14 matches and finished bottom of the standings in IPL 2023 when they were captained by Markram who led SRH’s satellite side, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, to two consecutive title wins (2023 and 2024) in the SA20 competition.
However, Cummins will replace Markram as captain for the 2024 season even though it’s worth noting that the Australian has not led a side in the IPL before. He has, in fact, never led a team in top-flight T20 cricket before. His T20 numbers as a bowler are also not the best with the Australian pacer picking up 145 wickets in 130 matches at an economy of 7.99 in 20-over cricket.
All things considered, it’s safe to say that whether or not Cummins will justify his price and deliver good performances for SRH in the upcoming season will have a major bearing on the team’s fortunes.
Another aspect that SRH might want to be wary about is their numerous injury-prone players in the squad. The likes of Washington Sundar, Travis Head, T Natarajan, and Wanindu Hasaranga have been known to spend a lot of time on the treatment table over the last few years and if that is to continue, then SRH are already fighting an uphill battle.
Probable Playing XII:
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Abdul Samad (impact sub)
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