Foundation Stones Before the Auction:
In the crucible of team-building, these warriors stand, the retained and traded-in players forming the bedrock of the forthcoming battle. Amongst the batsmen, Aiden Markram, a foreign force to reckon with, stands alongside the stalwarts Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, and Anmol Preet Singh. But it is the inclusion of the indomitable Heinrich Klassen that adds an international flair to the arsenal. Behold the all-rounders, where the likes of Glenn Phillips and Marco Jansen, foreigners both, meld seamlessly with the domestic talents of Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed, the latter brought in through trade, their combined might promising an unparalleled versatility. The pace brigade marches forth, led by the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar, flanked by the rising star Umran Malik, the ever-reliable T Natarajan, and the foreign recruit Fazalhaq Farooqi. And in the realm of spin, Mayank Markande holds court, a solitary guardian of the craft. Together, they form the core, the sinew and steel upon which the fortunes of their team shall rest.
Behold the spectacle of singularity in the guaranteed first XI picks! A solitary figure stands amidst the tumultuous sea of changes that SRH wrought upon their batting arsenal last season. But do not be deceived by the apparent anomaly, for within this lone selection lies a titan among men – Klassen Cast your eyes upon the grotesque statistics that adorn his name, a testament to his unrivaled prowess. Behold, for he emerges as the second-highest run-scorer in the SA20, despite the nefarious machinations of DSG management, who sought to hinder his onslaught by depriving him of opportunities. Yet, in defiance, he strikes with a casual ferocity, his bat wielding a strike rate of ~210, a harbinger of destruction upon the cricketing horizon!
And while SRH may be confused about how to use them, they have a lot of good resources to go along with this freak. Anmolpreet (5th highest run scorer in SMAT, with a strike rate of 180) has unlocked a new gear to his T20 game, especially in his pace hitting, and should ideally open for them. Abhishek Sharma (2nd highest run scorer in SMAT, strike rate of 192), his opening partner for Punjab, is also finally realizing his exceptional talent (I have referred to him as “Chhota Yuvi” for years, for his incredible bat swing and batting all-rounder potential). Another player from Punjab — Sanvir Singh, has been in excellent form as a finisher. Rahul Tripathi is a high-intent option at the top of the order, and they have 2 excellent utility middle order OS options in Phillips and Markram — the latter of which has now captained SRH’s SA20 team to two back to back titles.
Players like Washington Sundar and Marco Jansen, who, in addition to being able to provide 4 overs, are good at attacking one bowling type and really bad at others, are also good utility to have in a side, since they can pretty safely be promoted as pinch hitters vs specific bowlers. There is low risk of them becoming liabilities if they stick around against others — since they tend not to.
Batting Resource Gaps
This may be weird to read about a team which finished last in last year’s tournament, but SRH really did not have too many gaps in their batting resources going into the tournament, especially with the excellent form of Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, and Sanvir Singh in the SMAT. What SRH struggled with was a complete lack of role clarity, with changes to the batting line up and order in basically every game — which were not dictated by logic, stats, or matchups.
Batting Resources
Resource-wise, they were quite well set. A backup opener would have been useful, given Rahul Tripathi and Mayank Agarwal have not shown the form to be guaranteed first XI picks. Of course, they always had the option of just opening with Abhishek and Anmolpreet — Punjab’s SMAT opening partnership — so this was not really a huge gap. Though, I would want the option of another pace hitter opening in place of Abhishek, who can likely be better utilized at 3/4 — playing through the innings and attacking spinners through the middle. This would also better equip SRH to deal with opposing SLA — the rest of their resources except Abhishek and Klassen are relatively weak vs this bowling type (though, Klaasen is so ridiculously good vs it that oppositions choosing to bowl an SLA vs SRH could backfire horribly as long as SRH managed Klassen’s entry point well).
Bowling Resources
SRH Pre-Auction Bowling Resources: Phase-wise Stats in T20 and T20i from Jan 2022-
Again, just one guaranteed first XI pick looks grim, but that is down to how uncertain SRH seemed last season. The resources they had are actually quite good. Marco Jansen is a solid partner to Bhuvneshwar with the new ball, providing a point of difference with his height and left arm angle, and being more threatening vs lefties while Bhuvneshwar is better at picking up wickets vs righties. They also had spin options for both matchups in the powerplay — with Washington to bowl at left handers, and Abhishek Sharma vs righties. Bhuvneshwar’s form is a promising sign for the new ball threat their attack possesses — he was the 4th highest wicket taker in the SMAT, with 16 wickets in 7 games at an economy of just 5.8.
Through the middle overs, they again had the option of Washington and Abhishek depending on matchups, along with the leg spin of Mayank Markande who was reasonably good for them last season, with 12 wickets in 10 games at an economy under 8. They also drafted in Shahbaz Ahmed as an SLA option while trading out Mayank Dagar to RCB — which was slightly odd, since Dagar was their most economical bowler last season in the few games he played. Still, Shahbaz had a good Vijay Hazare, with 12 wickets in 8 games at an economy of under 4.
For the death, you would expect SRH to try and save 2 overs of Bhuvneshwar — he is their most reliable option in this phase. Marco Jansen can be expensive, but does tend to pick up wickets, so is an option for 1 over. Umran Malik — though very inconsistent earlier in the innings — is quite decent at the death, and given the number of bowling options they have in the squad, they should be able to carry Malik in the XI just to bowl 2–3 overs at the death. The rule change to allow 2 bouncers an over should also help make him more potent.
Bowling Resource Gaps
Like their batting, on paper SRH’s bowling was relatively well rounded going into the auction. However, the one thing missing was a serious threat through the middle overs — ideally a leg spinner, since Abhishek Sharma cannot be the main option vs righties. Markande was alright for them last season, and performed decently in the SMAT, but this is the position where they had the opportunity to make the biggest upgrade to their XI.
Given they really need Marco to pair Bhuvneshwar with the new ball, a backup for him should also have been a priority — big tall fast bowlers tend to be injury prone. They did have a very able left armer in Fazalhaq Farooqi, but Marco also adds a lot of utility with the bat, and so a bowler who could be threatening with the new ball and provide batting utility would be ideal — SRH certainly had the purse to be able to afford one.
2024 Auction
Purchases
Batsmen: Travis Head (OS)
Pacers: Pat Cummins (OS), Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh
Spinners: Jhatavedh Subramanyan
ARs: Wanindu Hasaranga
SRH 2024 Auction: Batting Resources Acquired
SRH 2024 Auction: Bowling Resources Acquired
I am not sure how the other teams allowed this, but SRH managed to get Wanindu Hasaranga for just 1.5cr early in the auction. This is such a great buy for them — he was the best possible option to plug the one bowling gap they had through the middle overs (in addition to also being an option at the death), and provides additional batting depth, to allow all their high intent players to go all out early on. Looking at their team composition, Wanindu is a must in the XI and should be a guaranteed starter, and therefore a steal at the price they got him.
They then picked up Travis Head — another very good buy, as a backup opener. With their potentially deep batting, this provides them the option to slot him over a middle order OS batsman (Markram/Philips), frontload their batting, and try and end games quickly. This covers for poor form from the likes of Tripathi. At this point in the auction, SRH were pretty set for a very good season already, if they just used the resources they already had correctly.
And then, they bought Pat Cummins. For 20.5cr. On paper, this is not a terrible buy, because they did need a backup for Marco as discussed above, and given they had a huge purse, they could splurge even on a backup if they thought he was the best option. But in practice, a price tag like this usually leads to irrational behavior — such as the franchise believing the player HAS to feature in the XI. Regardless, at the time I thought maybe they deserve the benefit of doubt, and he really just is a backup.
They then picked up two left-armers in Jaydev Unadkat and Akash Singh — which seems a little excessive when Marco Jansen would be in the playing XI already (right?) and they had Natarajan in the squad. Finally, they also got Jhatavedh Subramanyan, a leg spinner who impressed in the TNPL with 13 wickets in 11 games at an economy of just 6.5, presumably to backup for Markande and Wanindu, and to provide the option to use 2 leg spinners vs certain teams.
Best (Realistic) Line Up with Available Resources
Potential bat first line up:
- Anmolpreet Singh
- Rahul Tripathi
- Abhishek Sharma
- Heinrich Klaasen (wk)
- Aiden Markram
- Sanvir Singh
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Marco Jansen/Pat Cummins
- Washington Sundar
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Umran Malik
- Impact: T Natarajan/Jaydev Unadkat/Abdul Samad/Jhatavedh Subramanyan
This really is a pretty excellent team. It bats as far down as 9, with Bhuvneshwar at 10 also at least capable of turning the strike over to the more capable batsman at the other end. While SRH do not have a designated high quality death overs finisher, they can make up for the lack of quality there with quantity — with Sanvir, Wanindu, and Marco forming a very capable 6, 7, 8 to join whoever from the dangerous top 5 is still in the middle (if it is Klaasen, the partner barely matters anyway). While Abhishek was very successful opening for Punjab, I would prefer him at 3, given how incredible he is at hitting spin. Getting in vs pace and then attacking through the middle has been a good template for him, but with their batting depth, SRH’s plan A should be to attack the powerplay and then let him continue through the middle overs coming in at no 3. In case of an early wicket in the powerplay, he can come in and play as per his template anyway.
There are 3 (4 with impact sub) proper pace options in this line up — with Marco ideally bowling 3 overs with the new ball, along with Bhuvneshwar and as many overs of Washington/Abhishek as feasible depending on matchups (to save more overs of Bhuvneshwar for the death). Wanindu would bowl primarily through the middle overs, and would be joined by Washington and/or Abhishek, with the option to bowl some overs of Markram or Sanvir. Umran and Bhuvneshwar would be expected to do most of the death bowling. The choice of impact sub would depend primarily on where they need more overs — Unadkat can be subbed in vs top orders weak to left armers to allow more overs of Bhuvneshwar to be saved for later in the innings, while Natarajan is an option if they need more cushion in death overs (in matches where Bhuvneshwar is required to bowl more with the new ball). Both of these are almost luxuries in any case, and would not be expected to bowl more than 2 overs. As such, their batting can adopt an extreme attacking approach, since they can always bring in Samad as far down as no.9 in case they happen to lose a lot of wickets, without hurting their bowling in the second innings too much.
The one other way of setting up this team, as touched upon earlier, would be to open with Travis Head instead of Rahul Tripathi, and then swap out Markram for Abdul Samad. This would not be what I would start with, since it weakens the middle order quality further, but it is an option if Tripathi does not start well, since that top 4 is destructive enough to win games themselves, and there is the option to float up Marco, Wanindu, or Washington above Klaasen in case of early wickets. To facilitate this as an option, it might have made sense, despite the SA20 trophies Markram has won for the Sunrisers franchise, to make a sure pick like Bhuvneshwar or Klaasen the captain and allow more XI flexibility.
Scenario Tactics
With 3/4 pace and 4 spin options in the XI, there is enough variety there for SRH to really not have to deviate too much regardless of conditions/oppositions. The only decision which they absolutely have to get right, because it is important enough to make or break their entire season, is Klaasen’s entry point. Any match situation where the opponent does not have a good off spinner bowling and Klaasen is sitting in the dugout, is a suboptimally played match by SRH. In fact, even with a good off spinner, it might not be a bad idea to just always send out Klaasen as the first wicket after the powerplay, because most opposing teams tend to use “matchups” similar to “He is a right handed big hitter! Get it turning away!”, end up not bowling off spin at him anyway, and proceed to promptly get destroyed for their lack of basic statistical prep.
Views on Auction Performance and Team Construction
I truly believe that if you have Heinrich Klaasen on current form and fail to reach the playoffs of any T20 league in the world, the entire management should be fired, because you either messed up horribly in squad construction, match tactics, or both. To be fair to SRH, they have actually done that, and roped in Vettori as their new head coach. Though, this is a man who has previously coached RCB, and then Barbados Royals (in the season when they ended last). That is not to say these performances were because of him, but it is not the most inspiring resume.
Still, SRH’s positives are not just limited to Klaasen. Generally, SRH made some good buys at the auction which covered some of the limited gaps they had — with the Hasaranga buy particularly doing a lot for their squad. However, they had a mostly similar, and pretty good, squad last year as well, and they ended last. Their issues have mostly stemmed from, what appears to be from the outside, an incompetent and meddling management (readers would recall for example, Markram praising Umran Malik last season while saying he was “not too sure” what was happening “behind the scenes” with regards to his seemingly random exclusions from the playing XI). No amount of squad building can save a franchise from themselves.
While doing this analysis, I could not help but think about how impressive a squad SRH has managed to create again, even ~30cr under budget (the squad is excellent even without the presence of Cummins, Mayank, Nadeem), and I was looking forward to seeing how they would manage to mess up with this set of resources. And then, they did. Just after I was done with my analysis on their squad and auction, SRH have announced Cummins will be their captain. It should be obvious why this is a poor decision (him playing over Marco weakens the bowling, and over any of the other OS slots is even worse), but it is also completely unsurprising given the decisions made by the franchise over the last few years (managing to fumble BOTH the best overseas batsman and bowler in Warner and Rashid is quite impressive). It is just a shame that this excellent group of players is stuck with this management, and we can only hope that many of them end up in different teams if there is a mega auction next year.
Overall Assessment:
Auction Performance: Satisfactory
Playoff Probability: Moderate to Low
(Primarily due to the unconventional decision-making by management in recent times. Based solely on available resources, they would be a strong contender for playoffs.) #HYDKHABAR
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