IPL 2018: SRH vs KKR, Match 54 - Sunrisers Hyderabad Predicted XI

It really has been a memorable season for the Sunrisers Hyderabad despite all the speculations surrounding their credibility before their campaign started. Kane Williamson has marshalled his troops to the playoffs in a grandiose way and despite losing their previous two games to CSK and RCB, they’ve assured themselves a Top-2 finish.

Sticking to their strength, which is their bowling, the Sunrisers have been utterly ruthless and managed to hold their nerves in a lot of close games. The business end has finally arrived and the Orange Army will now be facing the Kolkata Knight Riders, who are the side under pressure. A win is a must for their side to ensure their qualification.

After some chopping and changing, the Sunrisers will land a full-strength XI for this game. They’ll approach this game as a preparatory for the Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede and some senior players like Yusuf Pathan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be on their way back to the XI. Here’s the Orange Army’s predicted XI for their final home game of the season.

Openers – Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan

One of the most explosive openers in the fraternity right now, Alex Hales has had a mediocre season thus far. Although he’s a like-for-like replacement for David Warner on paper, he has failed to replicate any of the Warner heroics which he is expected to do. But he has shown some signs, which is good enough for him to keep his place.

Shikhar Dhawan coming back to form with two big scores against the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings was a huge boost for the Sunrisers, who were heavily dependent on Kane Williamson to get the runs. Now, they have two World-class batters in the lineup, which should be good enough to get them over the line.

Middle order – Kane Williamson (C), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk)

One of the best players of the season thus far, Kane Williamson has been utterly brilliant with batting and leadership. With 8 fifties already this season, he’s approaching a new record in IPL which was set by Warner in 2016. He scored 9 fifties in that season, most by any player in a season and the Kiwi has a minimum of 3 games to overhaul that record.

Manish Pandey getting into form with a crucial knock against the Royal Challengers is exactly what the Sunrisers needed. If he can assist Williamson and Dhawan and chip in with few more decent scores, he can return home with a smile. Sreevats Goswami is yet to bat this season and it’ll be interesting to see what he can bring to the table in the middle.

All-rounders – Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan

Shakib Al Hasan has been outstanding for the Sunrisers this season. One of the unsung heroes of their brilliant campaign this year, Shakib’s canny bowling has restricted some top class batsmen from scoring runs at will. Only an injury can stop him from playing all the games this season.

Yusuf Pathan’s form was under the scanner heading into this season, but the veteran cricketer has done a terrific job thus far as a finisher. He played some sublime knocks against the Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, which reminisced people of his good old days. If he’s in good nick, the SRH will be unstoppable.

Bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Arguably the best fast bowler in IPL in the last couple of years, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be back in the side, replacing Basil Thampi. His partnership with Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma in the fast bowling department has been outstanding and the trio should forget what happened in the last couple of games and recuperate as quickly as possible.

Rashid Khan has been in unbelievable form this season and is completely justifying the huge price tag attached to his name. He picked up the wickets of AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, and Moeen Ali in the game against RCB and was the lone-warrior for them. If he can deliver another couple of magic spells, this will be the Orange Army’s trophy to lose.

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