3 Players who can replace Shikhar Dhawan at SRH

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have announced the players they have released and those they have retained for the upcoming season of the IPL. They traded star opener Shikhar Dhawan for the trio of Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma.

Here is the list of retained players for the Sunrisers Hyderabad:

David Warner, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Shakib Al-Hasan.

Also, here is the list of players released by SRH:

Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan and Shikhar Dhawan.

With a few key players released and no one left to open the batting with David Warner and also no reliable wicketkeeper option, it'll be interesting to see which players they will go for at the auction.

Here are three players who can replace Dhawan in the Sunrisers camp.

---

#3 Jonny Bairstow (England)

Jonny Bairstow went unsold in last year's auction but his performances this year are almost sure to get him a suitor this year.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was a driving force in England's ride to the top of the ICC ODI rankings. He has turned heads with his performances for England over the last two years, making everyone wonder why nobody went for him at last year's auction.

Jonny Bairstow

A versatile batsman who can play in many positions and also a safe wicketkeeping option, Bairstow could be the player that SRH are looking for. He could open the batting with Warner and form a destructive opening pair like he did with Jason Roy in the national team.

Bairstow has scored 1025 runs in 22 matches opening the batting for England in ODIs, with an average of 48 and a phenomenal strike rate of 120.

#2 Manan Vohra (India)

Manan Vohra could also be a suitable replacement for Dhawan. An Indian and a very attack-minded opener, Vohra was signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore last season only to end up warming the bench and play under the shadow of players like Quinton De Kock and Brendon McCullum.

Manan Vohra in action for the Kings XI Punjab

His stats for Kings XI Punjab in the previous editions have been pretty good, and he can emerge as a key player for SRH.

Much like it did for Suryakumar Yadav, who is also a fluent stroke-maker and good timer of the ball, a change of scenery can do wonders for this uncapped Indian batsman. He will be a good signing for the team if SRH manage to get him on board.

---

#1 Aaron Finch (Australia)

Aaron Finch was released by Kings XI Punjab along with several other big names like Yuvraj Singh and Axar Patel. The Australian captain has had a great season post IPL and will certainly be on the radar of teams looking out for an opener.

It's really interesting to see that the Kings lost patience with Finch while they have retained players like Mayank Agarwal, who hardly scored any runs, or Glenn Maxwell, who they have had for three seasons before 2018 though he has been underperforming consistently.

Aaron Finch

Finch recently made history by posting the highest individual score by a batsman in T20Is, slamming 172 against Zimbabwe. He is in the second place in the ICC T20I Rankings and has scored 469 runs in 13 innings for Australia with an average of 52 and an absolutely destructive strike rate of 190.

With Warner set to return and open the batting, imagine what havoc the fellow Australian Finch can create with him. This is unlikely to happen, but if it does then Sunrisers will really have a bolstered batting lineup for 2019 IPL.