Sunrisers Hyderabad has a player who can start an innings with a boundary; David Warner. He is a captain with supreme urge to win every game. A team with such mentality is always difficult to beat. SRH are the part of this tournament since 2013 and since then, we have played them for 10 times and both sides sharing 5 wins each. Whenever we face them, it is never about which team has better players on paper, it is always about which player stands the pressure on the match day. Interestingly, in 2015, we won both the fixtures against them with Lasith Malinga picking up 4 wickets in the home match and Parthiv Patel scoring a blazing half-century in the away match, but in 2016, SRH went away with two wins. In 2017, each side won their home game. These facts make this contest the most unpredictable one.

SRH are one of the most powerful sides on paper. Their primary objective was to retain their prime players and they did retain David Warner and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. The 19 years old, Afghanistan international player, Rashid Khan had an impressive last season in which he took 17 wickets. He was retained using RTM in the auction. Also, Indian explosive left-handed opener, Shikhar Dhawan, was also acquired using RTM. Apart from Warner and Dhawan, their batting line-up is further empowered by Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey. Among bowlers, Sandeep Sharma, who played for KXIP last season will be looking forward to repeat his last season’s success. Australian pacer Billy Stanlake is also a valuable addition to their squad. Their all-rounder’s department consists of Bangladesh’s prime player, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehdi Hasan. Also, Deepak Hooda, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi and Chris Jordan will be contributing with both bat and ball in the orange jersey. Although, all-rounder Ben Cutting, who played for SRH in the previous season, will be playing in MI blue.

These fixtures are studded with star performers from all around the globe, but the most interesting encounter will be that of two Indian players, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma. Their head coach, Tom Moody will be wanting to see Warner and Dhawan get going with a high octane start, while we will be confident to contain them with our bowling aces like Bumrah, Mustafizur and Cummins. So many possibilities and still our squad strength doesn’t let us drop any confidence whatsoever. We will be witnessing this fight for domination on 12th April, when we will visit the Orange Army in Hyderabad, whereas, the cheering roars will be heard over Arabian sea shore, when SRH will step in at Wankhede Stadium on 24th April.