Fortunately for cricket lovers across the globe, the game is about to be back in its full flow with the Indian Premier League (IPL) set to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Recently, the Indian Government gave clearance to the BCCI to conduct the tournament in the middle-east nation and the preparations are in full swing. The BCCI has made the franchises aware of the SOPs to follow and the teams are set to leave for the UAE next week.

The BCCI is planning a 24-player cap on all the franchise squads travelling to the UAE for the tournament. The cap has been decided keeping the bio-secure bubbles and regulations to check the infestation of the virus in minds. Only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) have more than 24 players in their squad which means they will have to leave one of their players behind before leaving for the tournament.

Unlike all other teams in the IPL, the SRH haven’t been involved in the IPL since the beginning. They were founded in 2012 and after a rough start to their journey, finally found their feet in 2016 as they were crowned the champions. Since 2016, they have established themselves as one of the most consistent teams in the league by always reaching the playoffs.

Here in this article, we will discuss 5 potential players who could be dropped from SRH in order to trim the squad down to 24 players:

1. Abdul Samad

Abdul Samad is the first player on this list and that is hugely down to his inexperience on the big stage. The 18-year- old was spotted by former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan. The former player-cum-mentor of Jammu & Kashmir spotted Abdul Samad at the Science College ground in Jammu during a camp organised for the state Ranji Trophy team and he was mightily impressed by the youngster.

The talented teenager made his debut in T20, List-A and Ranji Trophy within the span of a year. He was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 20 Lakh INR in the IPL auction for 2020 season. He became only the fourth cricketer from his state to get a contract. Parvez Rasool, Manzoor Dar and Rasikh Salam were the other cricketers to do the same.

From being an unknown quantity, happy to keep his spot in the state U19 side to breaking into an Indian Premier League team, Abdul has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past 10 months. He scored his maiden first-class century during their Ranji Trophy against Assam. He scored an unbeaten 103 off just 72 balls, studded with eight sixes and seven fours.

2. Virat Singh

Virat Singh might have turned 22 last December but he has been playing senior cricket for Jharkhand since 6 years! He made his debut for the Jharkhand U19 at the age of 14, in the 2012–13 edition of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. He will be a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s squad for the upcoming campaign after they signed him for Rs 1.9 crore in last year’s auction.

The Jharkhand batsman certainly has been in rich vein of form in white-ball cricket, having made valuable contributions for his team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (335 runs, average 83.75) and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (343 runs, average 57.16) at a strike rate of 142.32. He is likely to be seen as the one who could plug in the gap in the middle order in order to ease off some of the pressure on the top three.

Clearly, the SRH management saw something in the youngster and pounced on him straightaway. Having decided to get serious about their bid for an IPL title, the franchise elected to snap out as much talent as possible. He came into the auction with a base price of 20 lakh INR but he ended up bagging almost 10 times that amount. But with the current restrictions, he might be the one to miss out on a trip to UAE.

3. Priyam Garg

Priyam Garg was India’s U19 captain in the World Cup which took pace at the start of the year. Just like his SRH teammate Virat Singh, Garg was also snapped up by the Orange Army for Rs 1.9 crore in an attempt to increase their depth in the middle order. He has already caught the attention of Rahul Dravid and Uttar Pradesh teammate Suresh Raina.

In 12 first-class matches so far, Garg has 867 runs at an average of 66.69, with two centuries, and a best of 206. In List A cricket, he has scored 539 runs at 41.46 with one hundred. According to reports, at the tender age of 15, Priyam Garg stood tall against Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is one of the best Indian bowlers. When Priyam Garg was young, he used to skip studies to watch Sachin Tendulkar’s batting in a nearby Paanwala shop as they couldn’t afford a television set at home.

Priyam was a prodigy, but an injury prevented him from being selected in India’s Under-19 squad back in 2018. However, he was prolific, and he kept peeling off runs and he will be reaping the benefits of his will power and determination in the future. But he might turn to be the one to miss the flight to the UAE.

4. Sanjay Yadav

At 25, Sanjay Yadav is already a veteran of the Plate division. He has already been a part of an IPL squad in the past. It was his performance for VB Thiruvallur Veerans in the TNPL that earned him a place in the Tamil Nadu T20 squad and subsequently a 10 lakh INR contract with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017.

Although he didn’t play a single game for the Knight Riders, just being in the same dressing room as players like Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine would have been immense for the Gorakhpur-born all rounder. The comforting factor for Yadav was the presence of Lakshmipathy Balaji as the bowling coach of KKR who was also associated with the Tamil Nadu state team.

Sanjay is a batting all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls slow left-arm orthodox. He wrote his name in the history books on his first-class debut, taking the seventh-best bowling figures of all-time in FC cricket. He shifted his loyalties from Tamil Nadu to Meghalaya ahead of the 2019-20 season and took 9/52 against Nagaland to record history. He was snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 20 lakh INR but could end up not going to UAE this season.

5. Sandeep Bavanaka

Local lad Sandeep Bavanaka turned 28 earlier this year and is no stranger to the domestic cricket scene having represented Hyderabad since 2010. He tried his luck at trials with different franchises last year and was delighted to find out that his home team Sunrisers Hyderabad had acquired his services for his base price of 20 lakh INR.

When Sandeep was 4 years old, his father changed his batting style and converted him from a right-hander to left-hander. He was the leading run-scorer for Hyderabad in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy, with 400 runs in four matches. In domestic T20 matches, Bavanaka 734 runs in 34 innings at an average of 28.23. He has two half centuries to his name in the shortest format of the game.

Sandeep made good use of the generosity to begin his senior career with a bang, by smashing a century on Ranji Trophy debut against Jharkhand in 2010. There has been no looking back since. Cricket also got him a satisfying job, as an Inspector in the Income Tax department. Now, it’s all about raiding rival teams on the cricket field ground. But his dream to make IPL debut might not come true this year.