Rejigged Sunrisers look to go the distance

Sunrisers Hyderabad were one of the few sides that did a major overhaul to their squad, replacing quite a few big names ahead of the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League. The Sun network-owned franchise, which replaced Deccan Chargers in 2013, flattered to deceive in the past two seasons. Under a new skipper and a rejigged unit, SRH will be looking to go the distance in IPL 2015.

Captain

Leadership has been a game of musical chairs when it comes to the SRH team. Kumar Sangakkara and Cameron White handled the captaincy duties during their inaugural edition in 2013 while Shikhar Dhawan captained Sunrisers for a few games in the 2014 season before being replaced by Darren Sammy. With the West Indian all-rounder not finding a place in the squad for the current edition, Australia's World Cup winning opener David Warner was given the responsibility of leading the Hyderabad team. The fifth player to captain the SRH team, Warner is also the third Australian to be leading a franchise in the 2015 edition, joining George Bailey and Shane Watson in the leadership capacity.

Coaches

Tom Moody, who has been with the franchise since its inception, remains head coach of the Hyderabad side. Former India players Kris Srikkanth and VVS Laxman will continue to play the role of mentors while Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan has been roped in as spin coach of the side for 2015.

Previous IPL standings

While they made it to the play-offs in their maiden IPL outing in 2013, the previous season turned out to be an average one for Sunrisers as they failed to go past the group stage, finishing sixth.

How they fared in IPL 7

They won only two of their five matches in the UAE leg of the tournament in 2014 while the Indian leg also turned out to be poor for Sunrisers as they could only win four out of nine matches. With six wins overall, SRH finished sixth, just above Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, who won five and two apiece.

New Additions

Aaron Finch, Amit Mishra, Darren Sammy and Irfan Pathan were some of the big names Sunrisers let go when they released as many as 11 players ahead of the auction. At the conclusion of the bidding wars, SRH made up for releasing prominent names by getting hold of the services of quality international players like Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan as well as experienced Indian players like Praveen Kumar and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Kevin Pietersen, who was also bought in the auction, was later released by the franchise to enable the England cricketer take part in the county competition. However, as per the terms of Pietersen's contract with the franchise, he would join the SRH team in case they make it past the play-offs.

Key Players

David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan: It was double delight for Australian opener David Warner as he was part of a World Cup winning team and was also named skipper of the SRH team. With greater powers mean more responsibility and it will be interesting to watch if Warner can lead from the front. Warner's opening partner Shikhar Dhawan had a superb World Cup as the highest run-getter of the Indian team. With the burden of captaincy off his shoulder for the upcoming season, Dhawan has all the freedom to express himself.

The pace attack:New Zealand left-arm quick Trent Boult had a memorable World Cup as he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker of the tournament along with Mitchell Starc and he will play a key role in reviving the fortunes of the SRH side. A pace attack that boasts of Steyn and Boult also has quality Indian seamers like Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, making it a formidable attack that opposition teams will be wary of.

Chances for IPL 8

Sunrisers have a well-rounded squad for the upcoming edition of the IPL, with quality international names in both the batting and the bowling department along with promising domestic players. Inconsistency hurt them in the previous season and they will be keen to overcome that. Their strengths lie in their quality pace attack along with world-class batsmen making up the top order. As far as weaknesses go, SRH have a brittle middle order and there is a dearth of quality spinners apart from Karn Sharma. It's an experienced and well-settled unit overall and Sunrisers do have the ability to make it to the final stages. However, they have to guard against complacency and not let the momentum slip when they get it going.

Prediction

With a quality line-up that they possess and a think-tank made up of renowned former cricketers, SRH would be disappointed if they fail to finish among the top four.

Squad: David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Lokesh Rahul, Eoin Morgan, Ricky Bhui, Kevin Pietersen, Ashish Reddy, Moises Henriques, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Ravi Bopara, Hanuma Vihari, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Padmanabhan Prasanth, Naman Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Praveen Kumar, Trent Boult, Siddarth Kaul