Former Indian opener and now a commentator Aakash Chopra has picked an ideal playing XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Chopra selected David Warner and Jonny Bairstow as openers of the side as both of them had provided solid starts in the previous season. Warner is the most successful foreign batsman in the IPL as he has scored 4706 runs in 126 IPL matches.
Bairstow, who had made his IPL debut in the last season, has scored 445 runs in 12 IPL matches. Manish Pandey will bat at number three for Aakash Chopra whereas Vijay Shankar takes the fourth place in the final XI of the team.
Pandey has scored 2843 runs in 130 IPL matches at an average of 29.31. Shankar has scored 557 runs in 33 IPL matches at an average of 30.94. Chopra has picked youngster Virat Singh to bat at number five. Singh is yet to make his IPL debut and he is known for his penchant for big hitting.
Aakash Chopra has picked the number one T20I all-rounder, Mohammad Nabi to bat at number six for SRH. Nabi has scored 135 runs in 13 IPL matches. Rashid Khan, who is the number one T20I bowler also makes the cut into Aakash Chopra’s team. The leg-spinner is known to bamboozle the best batsmen and he has scalped 55 wickets in 46 IPL matches.
Chopra picked left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem at number eight in the batting order. The Jharkhan off-spinner has picked 42 wickets in 64 IPL matches. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the pack leader for Sunrisers Hyderabad. The swing master has scalped 133 wickets in 117 IPL matches and he is one of the most consistent bowlers in the tournament.
Khaleel Ahmed who had impressed in the previous season, is the other seamer in the line-up. Ahmed has taken 19 wickets in 10 IPL matches. Chopra wants to rotate Siddharth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma in the playing XI. Kaul has taken 49 wickets in 45 IPL matches whereas Sandeep Sharma has taken 95 wickets in 79 IPL matches.
