IPL auction analysis: Sunrisers Hyderabad expect their bowlers to win them the title

Sunrisers Hyderabad have always preferred to have a strong bowling line-up in the Indian Premier League over batting and the franchise continued that trend in this season’s player auction.

Out of the 25 players the 2016 champions have added to their roster this season, as many as 11 are genuine bowlers, not counting their five all-rounders.

The Sunrisers were smart in their auction strategy, choosing to retain only skipper David Warner and last season’s Purple Cap winner Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They chose not to retain India opener Shikhar Dhawan, but that turned out to be a clever ploy as they got him in the auction via a Right To Match card for cheaper (Rs 5.2 crore compared to Rs 7 crore they would have had to pay to retain). They did, however, spend the most – Rs 11 crore – on a batsman, Manish Pandey.

The other two RTM cards were used for Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan (Rs 9 crore), who turned out to be a revelation last season, and all-rounder Deepak Hooda (Rs 3.6 crore).

The Sunrisers were left with Rs 65 lakh to spare after the auction from their total budget of Rs 80 crore. Here is how they did:

Squad breakdown

Total players: 25

Overseas players: 8

Batsmen: David Warner (o), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson (o), Sachin Baby, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal

Wicketkeepers: Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami

All-rounders: Shakib Al Hasan (o), Carlos Brathwaite (o), Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi (o)

Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan (o), Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Chris Jordan (o), Billy Stanlake (o)

*(o): Overseas player

Strengths

Obviously, the bowling.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads a pace attack dominated by Indians, including Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan and Siddharth Kaul. There’s also West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, although fitting him into the playing XI might be tricky.

Rashid Khan leads the spin attack, including fellow Afghan Mohammad Nabi, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, and Indians Yusuf Pathan, Mehdi Hasan and Bipul Sharma.

Out of these, Bhuvi and Rashid will walk into the playing XI, and they’ve got plenty of Indian options to choose from for the remaining two spots. Sandeep Sharma may also be preferred considering his IPL experience.

Weaknesses

Going heavy on bowling obviously means you have to sacrifice somewhere in the batting. The Sunrisers will rely heavily on their top four – Warner, Dhawan, Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey – to get them winning totals. But what happens on the off day(s) when the top order fails?

SRH don’t have any reliable all-rounders who can finish tough matches off for them. Yusuf Pathan is too erratic, while Brathwaite will mostly have to be brought in at the expense of Shakib, who is a very handy spinner. There’s a lot of pressure on that top order but if it clicks, like it did in 2016, there is no stopping SRH.

Ideal starting XI

David Warner (o), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson (o), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Brathwaite (o) or Shakib Al Hasan (o), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Rashid Khan (o), Basil Thampi.