3 reasons why SRH won't make it to the playoffs of IPL 2022

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) always had a tough job replacing someone of the stature of David Warner going into the IPL 2022 auction. Although they have Kane Williamson as an able IPL captain, Warner's dominance as a batter was something the Sunrisers had to find in someone else.

Many questioned their tactics in the mega auction, as they went for a number of bowlers but not many quality batters. The franchise even released the likes of Jason Holder, who did so well for them last season.

SRH have definitely made some smart signings like Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram and the hard-hitting Nicholas Pooran. But there are several holes in their squad that will be a hindrance for them in the race to the playoffs.

Here are three reasons why the Sunrisers might not qualify for the IPL 2022 playoffs:

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#3 Lack of experience in middle-order

When one looks at the strongest possible SRH starting XI, Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi stand out as the top three. The problem, however, starts with the No. 4 position.

Nicholas Pooran has been in good form of late, scoring three consecutive half-centuries against India in the T20I series. However, he had a horrible IPL 2021 season, scoring just 85 runs from 12 games. So which version of Pooran shows up this season will certainly be something to watch out for.

Although the Sunrisers have Markram who could bat in the middle-order, other options like Abdul Samad and Priyam Garg might not be able to post competitive totals consistently. Thus, like before, the batting might once again depend heavily on skipper Williamson's form.

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#2 Missing quality in the bowling department

The Sunrisers spent quite a lot on pacers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Kartik Tyagi and Romario Shepherd. However, Bhuvneshwar's form and injury woes will cause uncertainty in the SRH camp.

Natarajan is returning after a long injury lay-off and it will be interesting to see if he can replicate the form from his breakthrough IPL 2020 season.

As far as the spinners are concerned, the Sunrisers do have Washington Sundar as an option, but he doesn't spin the ball much.

When one takes a hard look at the other bowling options that SRH have, there is uncertainty as to who they can bank on to provide regular breakthroughs.

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#1 Failure in replacing match-winners

The Sunrisers haven't done well in the past two seasons in the IPL. However, they still had a number of match-winners like David Warner, Rashid Khan, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Holder.

Having failed to replace any of the above stars with players of similar quality, SRH could very well finish in the bottom half of the table.

Apart from Williamson and perhaps an in-form Pooran, one cannot pinpoint any other player in the Sunrisers squad who has the ability to win games for their side single-handedly.