Marsh suffered a major ankle injury while bowling in SRH’s opener encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) played at Dubai International Stadium, Dubai on September 21.
“Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out due to injury. We wish him a speedy recovery. Jason Holder will replace him for #Dream11IPL 2020,” read their tweet.
Marsh had picked up the injury while bowling the fifth over of the match and was unable to complete the over as he twisted his ankle in the second delivery while stopping a drive from his countryman and skipper Aaron Finch. However, the seam all-rounder managed to bowl two more balls before pulling out of the over.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad named West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder as Marsh’s replacement and the Windies cricketer is expected to join the SRH squad anytime soon in UAE.
Jason Holder's inclusion to the SRH squad will provide balance and depth to the team in their bid to win a second IPL title in the thirteenth edition of the tournament..
So let us analyse what could be the pros and cons of Jason Holder joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad for IPL 2020
PROS
HOLDER WILL ADD BOTH DEPTH AND BALANCE TO SRH SQUAD WITH HIS ALL-ROUND ABILITY
If one were to closely look at the SRH batting lineup which will turn out regularly in IPL 13, they are heavily dependent on the top four comprising of David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey. They really do not have a quality finisher in the lower middle order to provide the late flourish for posting daunting totals or close out those nerve wrecking chases.
While Marsh was supposed to provide the clinical finishing act down the order, Holder can fill in the gap as the Caribbean star has the ability to produce those quick fire cameos down the order with his lusty ball striking.
Holder's inclusion will also give a more balanced look to the side as can be used as another seam bowling all-round alternative for Sunsisers if at all Vijay Shankar fails to deliver consistently.
HOLDER WILL STRENGTHEN SRH'S SEAM BOWLING
The tall and well built Jason Holder can also be used by the team as a seam bowling option to partner frontline seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the new ball if the situation demands. He can play the perfect foil to the SRH's swing bowlers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma as he tends to hit the deck hard and extract movement and good bounce.
The addition of Jason Holder to the SRH pace bowling unit will give them more options to play around with all through the season as the 2016 champions also have quality seamers in Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed and Billy Stanlake in their ranks.
A THINKING CRICKETER WHO CAN CRAFT MATCH WINNING STRATEGIES
Windies seasoned white ball cricket campaigner Jason Holder brings in invaluable experience with him on board to the SRH dressing room as he has been a prominent member of the West Indian team in white ball cricket. Holder known for his calm and collected approach has also doned the captaincy hat for the 'Maroon Brigade' with a fair degree of success.
The Windies cricketer can very well be part of the senior think tank and provide his inputs on how to to fine tune some match crafting strategies when the business end of the tournament unfolds.
CONS
LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE IPL
Jason Holder does not have much experience in the Indian Premier League as the tall Windies seam all-rounder has played just 11 IPL matches in which he has scored 38 runs and taken only 5 wickets. So despite being a leading star with the Windies team and also having played in a lot of top notch T20 leagues around the world, Holder hasn't been tried and tested in the IPL grind.
Jason made his debut for the Chennai Super Kings against the Rajasthan Royal in 2013 and last featured in the league in 2016.