IPL 2020: Aakash Chopra picks the ideal playing XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has picked his ideal playing XI for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2020. He also named David Warner as their likely stand-out performer in this year's IPL.

Aakash Chopra carried out this exercise of picking the strongest possible Sunrisers Hyderabad lineup for the upcoming IPL in a video shared on his Facebook page.

The reputed commentator's first pick in his playing XI was Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Warner, with the Australian having been a prolific run-getter in the IPL.

"I will start with the captain David Warner. He is an IPL legend, his stats are even better than Indian batsmen. Last year he said before the tournament that he will score 500 runs, and he scored more than that."

Aakash Chopra chose Jonny Bairstow to stride out to open the batting with David Warner, since this gives Sunrisers Hyderabad a much-required left-right opening combination.

"With him I have Jonny Bairstow, which makes it a left-right combination. The last time two batsmen scored a century in the same IPL match, they were the ones."

Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar made Aakash Chopra's ideal Sunrisers Hyderabad XI as the No. 3 and No. 4 batsmen.

"At No.3, I have Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar at No.4."

Virat Singh was Aakash Chopra's last pick as a specialist batsman, a player who could play the big shots but has no prior experience of playing in the IPL.

"At No.5, I have kept Virat Singh. He is a player from Jharkhand and idolises MS Dhoni. He hits a lot of boundaries but has not played in the IPL before."

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Aakash Chopra's selection of all-rounders and bowlers in his ideal Sunrisers Hyderabad XI

Rashid Khan was undoubtedly one of the bowlers in Aakash Chopra's ideal Sunrisers Hyderabad XI

Aakash Chopra picked Mohammad Nabi ahead of Mitchell Marsh at the No. 6 spot in his preferred Sunrisers Hyderabad playing XI, and lamented the lack of experienced Indian batsmen who could take that position.

"At No.6, you ideally want another batsman but they don't have any experienced Indian batsman. Considering the conditions in UAE, we will have to go with Mohammad Nabi over Mitchell Marsh. He can do the finisher's role considering his form in the CPL."

Rashid Khan followed his fellow Afghani in Aakash Chopra's ideal Sunrisers Hyderabad XI, and the latter acknowledged the lack of batting depth in the team.

"Along with him we will have Rashid Khan. He can play big shots but is he a No.7 batsman, that is the only problem that I see with this team."

Jharkhand left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem rounded off the spin-bowling attack in Aakash Chopra's Sunrisers Hyderabad playing XI.

"At No.8, I have got Shahbaz Nadeem."

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the former KKR player's first pick as a pacer, and he hoped that the former can come back strong post his injury layoff.

"Then we will have Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has also captained the team. He is an experienced bowler and hopefully he is fine coming back from injury."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Purple cap winner of #IPL2016 - 17 games, 396 balls, 490 runs, 23 wickets. #RCBvSRH #IPLfinal pic.twitter.com/kElsMKQgaR

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisersIPL) May 29, 2016

Khaleel Ahmed was Aakash Chopra's penultimate pick, with the left-arm pacer lending variety to the attack.

"At No.10, I have kept Khaleel Ahmed who will give the left-arm option. He can use this as a platform to come back in the Indian team."

Aakash Chopra observed that Sunrisers Hyderabad could rotate between Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma for the final bowler's spot, with both having dished out similar performances in the past.

"Last but not the least, you could go with Siddarth Kaul or Sandeep Sharma. Both of them give almost identical performances, so you can rotate them."

Aakash Chopra signed off by opining that Sunrisers Hyderabad could find it hard to make the playoffs this year while also picking David Warner as their probable stand-out performer in IPL 2020.

"I think they will struggle a little to make the top four, they don't look like a tournament-winning side to me. I feel David Warner will be the stand-out performer for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL."

Aakash Chopra's ideal Sunrisers Hyderabad playing XI: David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Virat Singh, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul/Sandeep Sharma