IPL 2020: SRH's predicted playing XI

Bowlers: Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleed Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul

Rashid Khan will be SRH's X-factor in IPL 2020

Rashid Khan is becoming more handy with the bat every day, but hasn't quite done enough in the IPL to be called an all-rounder yet. The Afghanistan captain is still SRH's lead spinner, and his 4 overs will be absolutely vital to the team's fortunes in IPL 2020. He comes into the tournament with some match practice from the CPL, and as always, will be a contender for the Purple Cap.

Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is making a return from injury, and how his body holds up to the rigours of top-level cricket in challenging conditions is something that SRH have to watch out for. He is perhaps their most important bowler, and will have to lead the pace attack as he has been doing over the past few years.

The final two spots will be contested by Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma and T Natarajan, but they are expected to be taken up by Khaleel Ahmed and Siddarth Kaul. While the former is a left-armer and adds enviable variety to the pace attack, Kaul has been a consistent performer for SRH over the past few seasons.

Khaleel has been a touch expensive in the IPL, but he is still only 22 years old and can use this edition of the tournament to stake a claim for a place in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup. Kaul, on the other hand, has been good both with the new ball and at the death, and has a wide range of variations in his arsenal.

While both pacers are likely to be given the nod for the first two games, if they don't perform too well, they could easily be replaced by the wealth of Indian pace-bowling options at SRH's disposal.

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SRH's Predicted Playing XI for IPL 2020:

David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul

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