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Indian Premier League 2023 will kick off from March 31 with champions Gujarat Titans taking on Chennai Super Kings at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Sunrisers Hyderabad will face last season’s runner-up Rajasthan Royals in their first game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on April 2.
Sunrisers finished the last season on the eighth position with just six wins in 14 group-stage games. But they have gone through many changes since then. Last season’s batting coach Brian Lara has been promoted to head coach while Aiden Markram has replaced Kane Williamson as captain.
The franchise chose not to retain Williamson and didn’t show any interest in the Kiwi star at the IPL 2023 mini-auction. They also released Nicholas Pooran, Priyam Garg, Shreyas Gopal, Sean Abbott, and Romario Shepherd ahead of the auction.
They entered the IPL 2023 mini-auction with the largest purse of INR 42.25 crore and successfully managed to strengthen the squad with quality reinforcement. They spent INR 8.25 crore to sign Mayank Agarwal and splashed INR 13.25 crore for the English batter Harry Brook.
SRH filled Nicholas Pooran’s void by signing South African wicketkeeper batter Heinrich Klaasen for INR 5.25 crore. The franchise also strengthened its spin attack with veteran English leg-spinner Adil Rashid, top-ranked West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein, and Indian spinner Mayank Markande. They spent INR 35.7 crore to bag 13 new players and to fill all 25 slots.
Their squad for the upcoming season is looking a good mixture of youngsters and experienced stars. Abhishek Sharma enjoyed a great domestic season lately and will be opening the innings with the new signing Mayank Agarwal.
Rahul Tripathi, Markram, and Brook form one of the most reliable middle orders in the league. Markram guided the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to SA20 2023 glory and won the Player of the Tournament award while Brook is emerging as one of the best batters across formats and will add stability to SRH’s middle order.
Glenn Phillips and Heinrich Klaasen will fight for the wicket-keeping gloves with the former likely to be preferred over the South African star. Washington Sundar, who missed five games due to injury last season, will occupy the number seven spot as a bowling all-rounder.
Once again, the franchise stalwart Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack with SRH’s last season’s leading wicket-taker Umran Malik, and death-over specialist T Natarajan. Marco Jansen and Adil Rashid will be preferred for the last bowling spot given the nature of the pitch and requirements.
Abdul Samad might struggle for the chances with Brook, Klaasen, and Glenn playing in the finisher’s role. Akeal Hosein, Kartik Tyagi, and Fazalhaq Farooqi offer quality backup to their star-studded bowling lineup. However, Markram, Klaasen, and Jansen will miss the opening game and will join the team on April 3 after South Africa’s ongoing T20I series against West Indies at home.
SRH Preferred Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (c), Harry Brook, Glenn Phillips/Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Washington Sundar, Adil Rashid/Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik
