The Sunrisers Hyderabad have a huge task at hand as they are set to face title contenders Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Tuesday, in their opening game. There are a number of big players in the both the camps, which makes the contest even more interesting. But Sunrisers coach, Tom Moody believes Yuvraj Singh, who suffered an injury in the World T20, will be missed in the early stages of the competition.
Yuvraj was one of the big signings during the IPL 2016 Player Auction, and his absence will hamper the Sunrisers. The left-hander has the ability to score runs at a quick rate and also roll his arm over when required with his slow left-arm, which has proved to be effective in the IPL. Yuvraj has scored 2099 runs and taken 35 wickets in the last eight editions of the tournament.
The player is expected to miss at least two weeks of the season, but Moody hopes his comeback does not take too long.
"Yuvi (Yuvraj) is a big loss. He's a match winner and he has proved that. He has played a lot of franchise cricket here. His presence will be missed but what's important is he recovers as quickly as possible. Within couple of weeks he'll be back into consideration but a lot will depend on his meetings with the specialists. We are hopeful it won't be too long," Cricbuzz quoted Moody as saying.
Sunrisers were unimpressive in the last two editions of the IPL, failing to reach the playoff stages, but they have strengthened their team this time around, picking up some good players during the auction in February.
Yuvraj, who was their biggest buy, Ashish Nehra, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda and Mustafizur Rahman are good signings for the Sunrisers.
These players, along with the other stars from last season like David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, need to deliver against RCB, who are one of the strongest teams in IPL 2016. Warner will hold the key for the Sunrisers, and Moody hinted at the fact that the left-hander will open the innings.
"As we saw last year in our campaign, Warner is a destructive at the top of the order. You can ask any opening bowler in world cricket whether they'll be happy to see him at No. 1 or No. 4 and you'll get the answer that they'll rather see him coming in a bit later," Moody said.
