IPL 2020: What will be Sunrisers Hyderabad’s auction strategy?

IPL 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad released some big names ahead of the 2020 auctions on December 19. They haven’t made major changes to the core group but have instead let go of underperformers from the last season. Although they have ticked off most of their boxes, there are a few areas that the Sunrisers will need to focus on.

The Retained Bunch

The superhit opening pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow has obviously been retained by the Sunrisers. The duo had a phenomenal run in the 2019 edition, boosting their team’s chances to a great extent. Along with them, the management has also shown faith in as many as 18 players including captain Kane Williamson, key players like Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, who form the core of the squad.

Full list of retained players: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Shreevats Goswami, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed.

The Released Ones

The biggest name on the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s release list was that of Shakib Al Hasan. The ICC recently slapped the Bangladeshi all-rounder with a two-year ban by the ICC for failing to report multiple bookie approaches. It could be one of the reasons his IPL franchise decided to release him. The team management has also cut off ties with New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill, who did not have an impressive 2019 season.

Full list of released players: Martin Guptill, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Yusuf Pathan.

Remaining purse & Auction Strategy

Having retained 18 players and released just five, the Sunrisers don’t need an overhaul of their squad. With seven spots to fill and a purse of INR 17 crores, they should be bidding for some genuine power hitters down the order. Spin all-rounder Nabi will end up replacing Shakib but the Sunrisers could do with a fast-bowling all-rounder as well. Though, they can only fill in two foreigners out of the seven, with the rest belonging to Indian players. There’s no harm in the Sunrisers Hyderabad taking an aggressive approach in the auctions.