What Sunrisers Hyderabad need to do at the 2017 IPL auction

02/18/2017

Sunrisers Hyderabad were the most sorted team in the last edition, not just because they lifted the Trophy, rather the way they got it- with combined team effort. With like-for-like replacements for most players, they had all bases covered and they would look to do more of it in this year's auction.

How they performed last season

The eventual champions of the tournament began their campaign with two losses but won seven out of the eight games that followed. Skipper David Warner exhibited his batting brilliance and Bhuvneshwar Kumar along with Mustafizur Rahman proved match-winners for the team.

In this day and age, when the number of proven match-winners in each department of the game and their form on the given day decides the fate of any team, Sunrisers have them in plenty. Where other teams suffered in some games due to the lack of their better players on the game, Sunrisers steered clear of any such fallibility due to the presence of unsung match-winners.

Although the team lost Ashish Nehra twice due to injury concerns, the management kept faith on Barinder Sran, which in turn reaped rich dividends. Hyderabad needed to win one of their last two league fixtures to finish in the top two and give themselves two chances of making it to the final. But, they lost both and were left to take the more arduous route. Then, others who had hitherto been out of form stepped up to save the team. Warner failed in the eliminator, Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques stepped up to stifle two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Their race was not dependent on one player and rather was about the squad of 11.

Players Retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson, Siddarth Kaul, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar

Players Released: Karn Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Eoin Morgan, Trent Boult, T Suman, Aditya Tare

Auction Budget: 20.9 crore

What they need to eye in the auction:

Sunrisers Hyderabad have retained their core group of players and released only two star players in the form of Eoin Morgan and Trent Boult. Last season, when Mustafizur was unfit, Trent Boult came in and filled the bill nicely. But the franchise doesn't have an experienced player in the middle order, considering Deepak Hooda’s inconsistent show last year.

Hyderabad's pace line-up paints a menacing figure, but they don’t have a specialist spinner in their ranks. Bipul Sharma is more a batsman than a bowler. They have also left out leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who picked up 31 wickets in this edition of the Ranji Trophy. So, they need to go for a spinner as the first priority.

Therein comes the name of Imran Tahir. It is a mystery as to why Delhi Daredevils released the South African leggie before the auction and with his recent form being excellent, Sunrisers should grab the chance. He picked up a five-wicket haul against New Zealand in the one-off T20 yesterday.

In case, Henriques or Cutting loses their form, Sunrisers should keep a replacement ready. For that, they don’t have to look beyond Kiwi all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme. He has a base price of 30 lakhs and could be a smart catch. His staggering T20 career strike-rate of 171 suggests his big-hitting capability. All-rounder Jalaj Saxena can be another enticing option available.

Sunrisers let Mumbai Ranji skipper Aditya Tare go from the squad, and Naman Ojha has had the history of getting injured. So, it will perhaps be a surprise, if the franchise doesn’t go for an extra wicket-keeper.

A player who can be an able replacement is Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad. He has averaged 35.94 and scored at a strike rate of 135.19 in the last couple of years. Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper Narayan Jagadeesan, although he has the experience of only four first-class matches, lit up the Tamil Nadu Premier League, finishing as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 397 runs in eight innings. He can also be preserved as the replacement for Ojha.

Players they should target: Imran Tahir, Colin de Grandhomme, Colin Munro, Mitchell Santner, Jalaj Saxena, Pawan Negi, and Narayan Jagadeesan