Sunrisers reliant on imported muscle

1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 KL Rahul, 4 Naman Ojha (wk), 5 Eoin Morgan/ Ravi Bopara, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Ashish Reddy, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Ishant Sharma/ Bhuvneshwar Kumar
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After winning only two of their first six matches last season, Sunrisers Hyderabad failed to impress in the second half as well and finished sixth. First under Shikhar Dhawan and then led by Darren Sammy, they didn't quite live up to expectations after an impressive debut season in 2013.

With arguably the strongest bowling unit this IPL, and some big purchases in the auction, Sunrisers Hyderabad have left no stone unturned to undo their poor outing of 2014. Dale Steyn, Trent Boult, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma bring international quality to their attack. Combine that with David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Kane Williamson, and Sunrisers possess a squad that is formidable and full of options, at least on paper.

Their challenge will be living up to the expectations tagged with those big names. It is also easy to spot a reliance on overseas players. Steyn, Boult, Warner, Morgan and Bopara are all match-winners, but only four of them can be selected. With Warner as captain, there is room for only three of the others. Picking Steyn and Boult would leave one spot open for Morgan and Bopara, and vice-versa. That means no space for Williamson or Moises Henriques.

Oppositions will probably see a weak link in Sunrisers' middle order. If Warner and Morgan fail initially, much of the responsibility will fall upon the domestic players but Naman Ojha, Hanuma Vihari and KL Rahul do not have the same weight of experience to draw from. The spin department this year will without Amit Mishra, the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL, and much will rest on Parvez Rasool and Karn Sharma, who again have little international experience.

However, Sunrisers' biggest loss came when Kevin Pietersen pulled out of the league stage to bolster his chances of an England return. That said, even if half of the international names in the squad fire for Sunrisers, making the eliminators this time may not prove to be as tough as last year.

Sunrisers' biggest strength lies in their openers - both batsmen and bowlers. Who would want to face Trent Boult and Dale Steyn together? And who would want to bowl to Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner in the first six overs?

Kane Williamson, who has it in him to become New Zealand's best batsman ever according to Martin Crowe, will make his IPL debut this season. His style is more suited for Tests and ODIs, but his T20 strike rate is 117 and he already has a hundred under his belt. Rs 60 lakh for such a batsman? Any day.

Although Kevin Pietersen was their biggest buy in terms of brand name, his commitment to Surrey and England has made him unavailable until the eliminators at least. Whether he is part of the English Test summer or not, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult sure will be. Barring unforeseen circumstances, they join the New Zealand squad for their two games at Lord's and Headingley by May 19 and won't be available after the league stage.

Sunrisers roped in Muttiah Muralitharan as bowling coach and team mentor in January this year after the former offspinner was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Muralitharan will join VVS Laxman, Kris Srikanth and Tom Moody in the dugout.

"It's definitely a huge loss, but that said, we have good replacements for Pietersen in Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan"