The Sunrisers Hyderabad have signed Pat Cummins and Travis Head, the players who led Australia to victory in the ODI World Cup 2023. They also handed the captaincy to Cummins, taking it from South Africa's Aiden Markram.
Can the Orange Brigade turn their fortunes around this season after their previous failures? Time may be the only one to tell, but we attempt to analyse their potential through a SWOT analysis.
Strength: Strong Core
The core of the Sunrisers' side is robust with outstanding batters like Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, and Rahul Tripathi. Their bowling line-up, featuring Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and T Natarajan, is equally formidable.
For the remaining four places in the playing eleven, they have Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmad, Abhishek Sharma, and Rahul Tripathi, all of whom are proven talents in the world's richest cricket league.
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Weakness: Problem of Plenty
Not only do they have high-calibre players as their first-choice options, but those in reserve are world-class too. Assuming Klaasen, Markram, Head, and Cummins play as the four overseas players, then the likes of Glenn Phillips, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Marco Jansen, not in the playing eleven, would seamlessly fit into any team in any T20 league.
Similarly, domestic players like Abdul Samad, Mayank Agarwal, and Umran Malik, who might not feature in the playing eleven, are again of high quality. This wealth of talent may lead to frequent changes in the team combination if performances dip in 1-2 matches, a strategy that has led to poor form for teams like the Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in recent seasons.
SRH IPL Player and Their Salary