IPL Auction 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) performance at the auctions

With complete reshuffling of all the teams, the auctions of the Indian Premier League 2018 were one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Two days of some thorough calculations and thinking by the franchises culminated into eight strong teams ready to fight it out in the eleventh edition of the cash-rich tournament, beginning in April.

Much like most of the other franchises, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, champions of the 2016 season, have also chosen a balanced side which has all its departments sorted. The VVS Laxman mentored franchise went into the auction having retained their highest run scored David Warner and their highest wicket-taker Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With three RTM options they had at their disposal, they chose to retain Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Rashid Khan.

An overall recap

All in all, the team roped in 23 players in the auction, with eight overseas players. Of the INR 80 crore they had, SRH ended the auction with 65 lakhs left in their purse.

Most of their players, who helped them win the 2016 edition, have been retained. Apart from Warner and Kumar, they also recalled Kane Williamson, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Nabi, Siddarth Kaul and Bipul Sharma.

Three former Kolkata Knight Riders players have also been roped in – Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan. While Pandey and Hasan are impact players, Pathan too can destroy the opposition on his day. Perhaps the team’s best buy is of Carlos Braithwaite, who can go berserk with his batting down the order and can also pick up wickets. There wasn’t much bidding for the West Indian, which is why he could be bought at his base price of INR 2 crore.

Earlier on Day 1 they also acquired the service of wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, pacers T Natarajan, Basil Thampi and Khaleel Ahmed. While Saha was picked at a whopping 5 crores, many argue the hefty sum of INR 3 crore paid to Ahmed.

Auctions Day 2

On Day 2 of the auctions, the franchise acquired the service of bowler Sandeep Sharma — who is known for picking up early wickets - for a huge sum of 3 Cr. The next player they roped in was Mohammad Nabi for 1 Cr. The Afghanistan all-rounder played only 3 matches for SRH last year but on the back of a good outing in the Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League and Caribbean Premier League, he has been able to return to the IPL again.

Left-hand Kerala batsman Sachin Baby, who played for RCB last three reasons, was bagged by SRH for his base price of Rs. 20 Lakh.

Among other picks were top order batsman Tanmay Agarwal, all-rounder Bipul Sharma, spinner Syed Mehdi Hasan, Australian quick Billy Stanlake and wicketkeeper Sreevats Goswami.

Complete squad for 2018

Manish Pandey - INR 11 crores

Rashid Khan - INR 9 crores

Shikhar Dhawan - INR 5.2 crores

Wriddhiman Saha - INR 5 crores

Siddarth Kaul - INR 3.8 crores

Deepak Hooda - INR 3.6 crores

Syed Khaleel Ahmed - INR 3 crores

Sandeep Sharma - INR 3 crores

Kane Williamson - INR 3 crores

Carlos Brathwaite - INR 2 crores

Shakib Al Hasan - INR 2 crores

Yusuf Pathan - INR 1.9 crores

Shreevats Goswami - INR 1 crores

Mohammad Nabi - INR 1 crores

Chris Jordan - INR 1 crores

Basil Thampi - INR 95 lakhs

Billy Stanlake - INR 50 lakhs

T Natarajan - INR 40 lakhs

Sachin Baby - INR 20 lakhs

Bipul Sharma - INR 20 lakhs

Syed Mehdi Hasan - INR 20 lakhs

Ricky Bhui - INR 20 lakhs

Tanmay Agarwal - INR 20 lakhs

In brief, they utilised their purse in a way that perfectly filled in all their vacant departments in their budget. Three star all-rounders, three star spinners, four pacers, two pinch hitters, an opener who can rip apart the bowlers and two technically sound middle-order batsmen, SRH have all their bases covered.