Sunrisers Hyderabad Best Possible Playing 11 for IPL 2022: Focus on captaincy and Williamson fitness

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Bengaluru, February 16: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has built a squad capable enough to be a challenge at IPL 2022 Mega Auction, but may sweat on the fitness of captain Kane Williamson.

Ahead of the auction, Sunisers retained skipper Williamson and couple of uncapped players in Jammu & Kashmir duo pacer Umran Malik and all-rounder Abdul Samad. They also bought back the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan in the auction.

Apart from Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan, SRH also bought back more former players - youngsters all-rounder Abhishek Sharma and batter Priyam Garg as well as left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith.

Plus, they splashed the cash on West Indies wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran, uncapped batter Rahul Tripathi, Windies all-rounder Romario Shepherd and India all-rounder Washington Sundar.

While they addressed many areas, a stand-by captain and one opening slot may have been missed by the 2016 champions as they look to add a second title to their kitty.

Williamson has missed a lot of action since last year due to an elbow issue and that may hamper SRH's plans for the season as well.

The New Zealand skipper is expected to open the batting as well as lead the team. What happens if he is not fit? South Africa's Aiden Markram could be the one to take on both the roles if necessary.

But SRH's spin bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan has already hinted that young Sharma will be given more responsibility this season. So, it will be Williamson and Sharma as first choice opening options for SRH.

The bowling seems stacked with both good quality spinners and pacers, while the wicketkeeping options also seem good.

With the addition of South Africa's Marco Jansen and Windies' Shepherd, the all-round option also seems stacked. But playing both Shepherd and Jansen in same 11 could be tricky for SRH.

Samad and Malik were retained. So the duo are expected to part of the playing 11. This also gives a headache for the team management to pick their pacers from the pack that includes Bhuvneshwar, Natarajan and Kartik Tyagi.

On the other hand, picking spinners won't be a tough call as all-rounders Abhishek, Sundar and Samad are all capable to bowl the quota of four overs.

Now, as the squad is assembled, let's take a look at the best possible playing 11 for Sunrisers if everyone is fit and available.

SRH Squad for IPL 2022

Batters: Kane Williamson (captain/overseas), Aiden Markram (overseas), Rahul Tripathi, Priyam Garg, R Samarth

Wicketkeeper: Nicholas Pooran (overseas), Glenn Phillips (overseas), Vishnu Vinod

All-rounder: Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, Marco Jansen (overseas), Abhishek Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Shashank Singh

Fast Bowlers: Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, Sean Abbott (overseas), Saurabh Dubey

Spinners: Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Fazalhaq Farooqui (overseas)

SRH Best Possible Playing XI

1. Kane Williamson

2. Abhishek Sharma

3. Aiden Markram

4. Rahul Tripathi

5. Nicholas Pooran

6. Abdul Samad

7. Washington Sundar

8. Marco Jansen

9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

10. T Natarajan

11. Umran Malik