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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has always been a strong and consistent side in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the previous season of the cash-rich league, SRH finished as the third-best team. Ahead of the auctions of 2021 edition, SRH have retained their maximum players.
Sunrisers have only released five players in the form of Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Bavanaka, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav and Prithviraj Yarra. They have just three slots remaining, including one spot for an overseas player.
The ‘Orange Army’ will look for few players who could come in as an alternative to their settled players and an Indian pacer who could add some experience in the bowling line-up in the presence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Let’s have a look at four such players that SRH might target in the upcoming mini-auction:
1.) Alex Hales
Sunrisers already have Jonny Bairstow at the top-order, and one player who could come in the side as an alternate of Bairstow is another English cricketer Alex Hales. The right-handed attacking batsman is rolling the charts these days with super-hot form.
In the recently concluded 2020-21 edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia, Hales had performed exceptionally well for Sydney Thunder. The 32-year-old finished the tournament as the highest run-getter with 543 runs from 15 matches at a phenomenal strike-rate of 161.60.
Overall, the Middlesex-lad has played 283 T20 matches, amassing 7927 runs with four centuries and 51 fifties. The explosive stroke maker has smashed 866 fours and 306 sixes in the shortest format.
2.) Steve Smith
Sunrisers only have one overseas spot left and if they don’t go for a top-order batsman then surely the David Warner-led side can opt for a specialist middle-order batter in the form of Steve Smith.
Smith could provide the team with some solid partnerships along with the presence of Kane Williamson in the side. Ahead of the upcoming auction, Smith has been released by Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the forthcoming auction.
The New South Wales cricketer played 14 matches for RR in the last season and scored 311 runs. During the ODI series against India, the 31-year-old showed his rich form by scoring back-to-back tons. Overall, Smith has amassed 2333 runs from 95 IPL matches with one hundred and 11 half-centuries.
3.) Shivam Dube
With the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Jason Holder in the side, SRH is pretty strong on the grounds of having some quality all-rounders in the team. They also have the Afghanistan duo of Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi, both of them are handy with the willow.
However, all these players are overseas, and with the limitation of 4-foreign players in the final playing XI, SRH often struggle to find a good combination since they lack a decent Indian all-rounder, and that’s where Shivam Dube can fit perfectly.
Dube was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of IPL 2021 auction. In IPL 2020, the southpaw appeared in 11 matches where he picked up four wickets and scored 129 runs. Dube can be a worthy pick for SRH considering the fact that IPL 2021 will take place in India.
4.) Umesh Yadav
The bowling has always been a strong point for Sunrisers. Even in the previous season when they lost Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who only played four matches, SRH never looked like they were running out of options. The emergence of T Natarajan was the biggest plus point for Sunrisers in the previous season.
Despite all the positives, SRH did miss a quality, fast bowler who could dominate the proceedings in the initial phase of play. That’s where veteran Indian speedster Umesh Yadav can come in handy. The bulky paceman only played two games in IPL 2020 and was released by RCB ahead of the mini-auction.
Umesh has so far played 121 matches in the lucrative league where he has picked up 119 wickets at a strike-rate of 21.19 with 4/24 being his best.
