Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are set for a massive transition in the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League after losing star players David Warner, Rashid Khan, and Jonny Bairstow. The 2016 champions only retained Kane Williamson (14 cr) alongside two uncapped Indian players in Abdul Samad and Umran Malik before the mega auction.
SRH made some big signings at the auction with the purchase of West Indies wicket-keeper batter Nicolas Pooran for Rs. 10.75 crores. They also purchased South African batter Aiden Markram (2.6 cr), Washington Sundar (8.75 cr), Rahul Tripathi (8.5 cr), Romario Shephard (7.75 cr), and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4.2 cr).
Warner and Bairstow’s departure has cleared the way for Williamson to open the batting for the Hyderabad-based franchise. While both Tripathi and Markram offer a solid opening partner for the New Zealand skipper, SRH’s spin-bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan has named young Indian all-rounder Abhishek Sharma as Williamson’s opening partnership.SRH spent Rs. 6.5 cr to re-sign Sharma at the auction.
“Abhishek was pretty much part of our initial plans. He was in and out of the side last season, but we want him to assume greater responsibility this time. We want him to open the batting alongside Kane. That will help us get a good left-hand, right-hand combination at the top,” said Muralitharan to Sportskeeda.
Talking about Markram and Tripathi’s role in the side, Muralitharan expects them to play at number 3 and 4 respectively with Pooran and Samad to bat and five and six. “As I said, Kane and Abhishek will open the batting. They will be followed by Aiden at 3, Rahul at 4, Pooran at 5, Samad at 6 and Washington [Sundar] at 7. That’s our tentative top seven,” added the legendary Sri Lankan spinner.
Sharma was purchased by Delhi Capitals (DC) at the 2018 IPL auction for just Rs. 55 lakhs but was traded to SRH for a deal that saw veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan join the Delhi-based franchise before the 2019 season. Alongside Sharma, Vijay Sharma and Shabaz Nadeem also joined SRH as part of the same transfer.
