3 Focus areas for Sunrisers Hyderabad to win IPL 2020

The only Team with a confirmed foreign captain, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) need to relook at their strategy to win IPL 2020.

SRH are one team that don’t get the hype that other teams like MI, CSK, RCB, etc. get. They quietly go about doing their business, and they succeed doing it most of the time. Since IPL 2016, they have had a top 4 finish in all the occasions with them emerging as winners in IPL 2016, and Runners-up in IPL 2018.

IPL 2019 saw their best batsman, David Warner returning to the scenes. While he didn’t captain the side, he was back to his original best as a batsman. SRH finished in the top 4, but they had few weaknesses, and few surprising picks in the auction. 

So, let’s look at the what strategy should SRH adopt, and what areas they need to focus upon in order to win IPL 2020.

SRH SQUAD AHEAD OF IPL 2020 AUCTION:

Batsmen: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, Srivats Goswami, and Wriddhiman Saha

All-rounders: Abhishek Sharma, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, and Vijay Shankar. 

Bowlers: Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Khaleel Ahmed, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, and T Natarajan. 

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#3: Release Deepak Hooda | Price: INR 360L

The 24-year-old powerful striker from Baroda is one of the most exciting batsmen in the IPL. He is known for his clean striking ability, but to be honest, he hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations.

Overall, he has played 61 IPL matches, but has scored only 524 runs with just one 50+ score. As a bowler too he couldn’t perform as he managed only 7 wickets at an average of 44.71. Even in IPL 2019, he could only manage 64 runs from 11 matches at an average of 10.66, and a strike rate of just 101.58.

Bought for almost half a million dollars, Deepak Hooda does no justice to his price tag, and it would be wise of SRH to release him to buy players that can help minimize their gaps. 

#2: Buy a solid Indian middle-order player

SRH are a side that are heavily reliant on their overseas players, and to be honest, they have the best of the best in the business. The likes of David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi, and Rashid Khan are all rockstars, and given an option should straight away draft themselves in the playing XI.

But, what about the Indian players, specially batsmen? The only name that comes to my mind is Manish Pandey. The others like Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, and Yusuf Pathan haven’t quite set the stage on fire, and aren’t quite the reliable players in this format. 

In such a scenario, It becomes imperious for Sunrisers Hyderabad to invest in a solid Indian middle-order player. They should either look in the IPL 2020 Auction, or probably trade from the other teams. 

#1: Buy a good backup for Rashid Khan

In IPL 2019, teams realized that attacking Rashid Khan isn’t a wise option. Hence, they found it best to play out Rashid Khan, and look to attack the other bowlers. The result of that was that the World’s number one spinner took only 17 wickets at a superb economy rate of 6.28.

Considering the ploy teams are adopting against Rashid, It is best SRH invest in a young mystery spinner. They do have Shahbaz Nadeem, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mohammad Nabi, but Shahbaz is a traditional spinner and Nabi and Shakib would find it difficult to play most of the matches considering their overseas strength.

There are plenty of exciting Indian talents for reckoning in the pool or with other teams. SRH should use this platform wisely to get a good mystery spinner to complement Rashid Khan.

So, these are the key areas Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) need to focus upon in order to win IPL 2020. 

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ALSO READ: IPL 2019: Sunrisers Hyderabad Team Rating

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