India’s biggest sporting event commences in less than 48 hours and all ten franchises have geared up for the upcoming new season. The 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be heading into this new edition on the back of a disastrous outing in the previous season. In the IPL 2022 retention, the franchise retained their skipper, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik. SRH released their two-star players David Warner and Rashid Khan ahead of the retention.
In the mega auction, last month, the Hyderabad-based franchise got some renowned emerging Indian cricketers onboard, who have to fill the big shoes of Warner and Rashid. Let’s have a look at three crucial players for SRH in the IPL 2022:
1. Kane Williamson
Kane Williamson was announced the skipper of the team mid-season in 2021 after the franchise failed to perform well in the initial matches. Williamson has been the backbone of SRH’s batting line-up and will need to score tons of runs in the absence of Warner. The Kiwi-skipper is best known for anchoring the innings and will look to utilise his skill to the fullest to attain success for the team in IPL 2022.
The 31-year-old, in his IPL career, has so far scored 1885 runs in 63 matches. In the previous season, he gathered 266 runs in 10 matches.
2. Rahul Tripathi
Rahul Tripathi, the uncapped Indian player has been playing in the Indian marquee domestic league for the past four-five seasons and have made a name for himself. For Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in the last two seasons, the 30-year-old was been a reliable batsman in the middle-order. Tripathi can rotate the strike in the middle-overs and can also play attacking cricket in death overs.
Tripathi has played 62 IPL matches so far, in which he amassed 1,385 runs. In 2021, he scored 397 runs at an impressive strike rate of 140.28.
3. Umran Malik
SRH have bestowed their trust on the youngster Umran Malik when the team retained the pace bowler over the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan. Malik made his debut in IPL 2021 against KKR and grabbed eyeballs when he bowled the fastest delivery of the season. The 22-year-old’s extra pace can trouble the experienced contenders of the game. Under the guidance of the bowling coach, Dale Steyn, Malik will look to elevate to another level and win matches for SRH.
SRH will kick off their IPL 2022 journey against Rajasthan Royals on March 29.