IPL 2018 Auctions: Decoding Sunrisers Hyderabad's performance and predictions for Day 2

The first day of the much anticipated Indian Premier League auctions took place in Bengaluru earlier today. Much like every year, the auctions sprung up several surprises. While some star players like Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga remained unsold, others with a basic base price went high.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, champions of the 2016 edition, have created one of the strongest teams of the tournament for themselves. Letting go of David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both of whom were the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in 2017, wasn’t an option. Both the star players were retained in the initial retention list itself.

Players retained through RTM card

Coming to the mega auctions, the management chose to use their Right to Match (RTM) card on three players - Rashid Khan, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepak Hooda. The Afghanistan leg-spinner picked up 17 wickets in 14 matches with a strike rate of 19.05 during the last IPL season. All of 19, the youngster has produced some sparkling performances in the world's top T20 leagues, including the on-going seventh season of the Big Bash League, in which he is the highest wicket-taker of the tournament so far (As of 27 January). Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, has been a consistent run-scorer for the franchise with 3561 runs from 127 matches at an average of 32.66 and strike rate of 121.86!

In Deepak Hooda, the franchise availed an all-rounder, though the 22-year-old enjoys a better reputation for his batting than his bowling. Hooda, who 373 runs in 41 IPL games for Hyderabad, is known for hitting some big shots in the middle order. He has also taken 6 wickets from as many games. But his retention, perhaps, has followed his recent call-up to the Indian team for the T20Is against Sri Lanka. He didn’t get to make his debut, though.

The newcomers in the team

Among the newcomers in the team are pacer Khaleel Ahmed, wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, middle order batsmen Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Braithwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Basil Thampi and T. Natarajan.

Ahmed, who played for Delhi Daredevils last year, was the new crorepati of the auction. The 20-year-old was picked for Rs. 3 crore. Saha, who will serve as an able keeper behind the wickets, was bought for Rs. 5 crore, while Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan, who were associated with KKR as star players, were bought for Rs. 1.10 crore and 1.90 crore respectively.

The management spent 2 crore on West Indies all-rounder Carlos Braithwaite and 95 lakh on Basil Thampi, who performed exceptionally well for Gujarat Lions last year. T Natarajan, who made his IPL debut last year for Punjab, was bought for 40 lakhs.

Another KKR player who was snapped up by the Sunrisers is all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who earned a contract of Rs. 2 crore. The Bangladeshi cricketer played for KKR for several seasons and produced some stellar performances.

Ricky Bhui, who was with the Sunrisers last year but hasn’t yet made his IPL debut, was picked for his base price of Rs. 20 lakhs. The 22-year-old middle-order batsman had come to limelight after he played for India Under-19 and ICC U-19 World Cup in 2016.

Siddharth Kaul goes big

SRH spent 3 crore 80 lakhs on pacer Siddharth Kaul, who enjoyed a good domestic season in 2017-18 and had performed well for the Sunrisers last year too. The –year-old grabbed 16 wickets in 10 games for Hyderabad last year. Kaul, who plays for Punjab in the domestic circuit, was with the franchise in 2013 and 2014 too.

A quick look at all departments

Fast bowlers – Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Spinners – Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan

All-rounders – Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Braithwaite

Top order batsman – Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Ricky Bhui

Middle and lower middle order batsmen - Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Deepak Hooda.

What to expect on Day 2 of the auction

The franchise now has a total of 16 players in the squad. They need to buy two more players tomorrow with a remaining budget of 7.95 crore.

While they can go for an uncapped Indian player for his base price, they should also try and get back Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammed Nabi in their squad. The 33-year-old played only 3 matches last year but he can prove to be the stand-out impact all-rounder in the forthcoming edition. He has produced some stellar performances in the Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League and Caribbean Premier League. With only 2 spinners in the squad, Nabi can be the perfect buy tomorrow.

Or they can also keep an eye on Mujeeb Zadran, the 16-year-old Afghanistan off-spinner who is currently representing Afghanistan in the ongoing Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. He took 4 wickets on his international debut against Ireland in an ODI in December last year.