The Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) is just around the corner, as the tournament is set to begin on March 28. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on the opening day of the competition. Ahead of the first match, there is a headache for the Orange Army, as their regular captain Pat Cummins is going to miss a few matches.
SRH have named Ishan Kishan as their captain for the games in which Pat Cummins will not be there. Abhishek Sharma has been made the vice-captain of the team. They have fast bowlers like Ishan, Abhishek, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Liam Livingstone in their batting. However, his bowling has been weak.
Ishan Kishan will take charge of Sunrisers Hyderabad
Ishan Kishan has been awarded the captaincy role for his excellent T20 World Cup form, where he scored 317 runs for India. Last season, he scored 354 runs in 14 matches at an average of 35.40 and an excellent strike rate of 152.58. He has experience in captaining Jharkhand and has led the team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy championship.
Talking about former India batsman Abhinav Mukund, he discussed SRH’s batting and gave a serious analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Orange Army’s overall team as well as bowling.
“If their batting is 10, their bowling is 1, which is a huge drop. Their batting will hurt teams, and it is the strongest in the competition. That alone makes them dangerous on the flat tracks of Hyderabad,” Mukund said on SRH.
They have many people who have not even played – Abhinav Mukund
“But the decline in bowling is huge. They have a lot of guys who haven’t even played in the IPL. You brought a lot of money in the auction, and you spend it on Liam Livingstone, when you already have Klaasen, Head and Abhishek Sharma.”
Mukund further said, “They have a very inexperienced bowling lineup, consisting of people who are not making their own first-class teams. Many are selected only on the basis of scouting from the trials. I am amazed at how they have built their team.”
“They have done well in the last few years, for them Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Natarajan have done really well. But now it feels like Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat have to take charge of the attack.”
SRH has been a heavy team in batting
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Faf du Plessis also questioned SRH’s plans to build a team that is batting heavy and not very balanced.
Faf du Plessis said, “There has only been one season where he has lit up with the bat. Last year was not exactly the same in terms of batting returns. He tried the same method of beating the opposition, but the wickets were not as flat, and he did not perform as well in the batting department. I would say that is a lot of eggs in one basket.”
“In that, Abhishek has not been in great form. Heinrich Klaasen has had a quiet year, and Travis Head has had a quiet World Cup. Liam Livingstone has not done well in the IPL and he is not even part of the England team. Chances are that will be right, but you are asking too much.”
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