Sunrisers Hyderabad have been a team to watch out for since making their debut in the cash-rich league in 2013. The Sunrisers made it to the playoffs in their very first season and became champions in 2016. Having made the playoffs in each of the previous 4 editions, the Sunrisers fell just 1 step short of clinching what would have been their 2nd title 2 years ago.
Their biggest strength is the explosive opening-pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. The pair gives a flying start and even if one of them fails, Kane Williamson at number 3 is is SRH's Mr Dependable.
But their strength sometimes turns out to be their weakness too. Over-dependence on the openers leave them with an unexposed middle-order which often triggers a batting collapse in case the top order fails.
SRH have also given the captaincy reigns back to Warner this time around, the same man under which they won their only title. With Williamson in charge, their 4 overseas slots were pre-decided with Warner, Bairstow, Williamson and Rashid Khan. The move will free up one slot and Hyderabad can float in Mohammad Nabi or Fabien Allen to strengthen the middle-order whenever required, in place of Williamson.
Another area of strength is their bowling. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul and Basil Thampi, they probably have the best Indian fast bowling group in the competition. With spinners Rashid Khan and Shahbaz Nadeem, and all-rounders Nabi, Vijay Shankar and an in-form Mitchell Marsh, Hyderabad have a luxury of playing around with different bowling combinations according to different surfaces.
The team clearly has several match-winners in their ranks and if Sunrisers can fix their middle-order conundrum, they for sure can title contenders.