Who could ever imagine Sunrisers Hyderabad team without David Warner and Rajasthan royals without Steven Smith? Both the players were retained by their franchises and which was rightly so. How could any franchise let go David Warner who has been their best player in the last 3-4 season and they even won the title for them and same goes with Ex-Australian captain steven smith But who would have ever thought that captain and Vice-captain of Australia would ever be involved in Ball tampering and get banned for a year from international and domestic duties.
A major loss has been on the Sunrisers hyd and Rajasthan Royals who had invested heavily in these players to play for them in the auction but later on went on to banned from playing.
As we all know life doesn’t stop for anyone and the show must go on. Sunrisers made Kane Williamson as their captain and rightly so. The cool and calmness(which is rare nowadays) of captain will give more focus and direction to their new squad and same goes with Ajinkya Rahane who has been a wonderful servant of Rajasthan Royals ever since he started playing for them.
Sunrisers roped in Alex Hales from England and I think they got the best buy given the time where every other big player were sold out. Alex Hales has been playing T20 for a while now and he has improved a lot in recent years under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan in England colours and they play fearless cricket which can help Sunrisers in the top order of if he can grab this opportunity and make a bigger name in the biggest stage of the game.
Rajasthan have brought in big-hitting Heinrich Klaasen. When we saw him for the first time in SouthAfrica series, we felt that there is enough potential in the lad and he is strong and powerful. He can hit the ball long way. IPL is full of surprises and he can be the biggest surprise buy for the Rajasthan Royals in place of Steven Smith.
The middle order from Sunrisers can be their strength this season as they have Manish Pandey who has bee brilliant for India and as well as for Karnataka in their domestic circuit and they have Yusuf Pathan who has a point to prove as KKR let him go in the auction.Shakib Al-Hasan, worlds best all-rounder is also part of Sunrisers team this year and he can be the go-to man for them to finish the games in the death overs. Bowling has never been a problem for Sunrisers as they have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Rashid Khan, Billy Stanlake and Shakib Al-Hasan.
There is no short of talent in Rajasthan Royals squad as well. They have Ben Stokes who was outstanding for Pune last year single-handedly won them few games. They have Rahul Tripathi who was surprised star for Pune as well and if he proves it again on the biggest stage then he will be the one to watch out for. D’Arcy Short, the name has short but he can smash them out of the park. Busted in to scene in big bash and here is now playing in worlds best t20 league.In the bowling department, Jaydev Unadkat the highest paid Indian in this year’s Auction will be crucial for Rajasthan in pursuit of the trophy.
Possible playing X1
Rajasthan Royals
Ajinkya Rahane(C)
Rahul Tripathi
D’Arcy Short
Sanju Samson
Jos Butler
Ben Stokes
Stuart Binny
Krishnappa Gowtham
Dhawal Kulkarni
Ben Laughlin
Jaydev Unadkat
Sunrisers Hyd
kane Williamson
Shikhar Dhawan
Alex Hales
Manish Pandey
Yusuf Pathan
Wrddhiman Saha
Shakib Al-Hasan
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Raashid khan
Sandeep Sharma
Billy Stanlake
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