Fondly known as the ‘Orange Army’ - Sunrisers Hyderabad are among the widely followed franchise in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). The 2016 champions are also a consistent side in the league and are known to produce scintillating performances under the leadership of fiery David Warner. In the recently happened Player Retention event in Mumbai, Sunrisers held on to the specialists as they retained explosive Australian opener David Warner and Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 2018 edition of the tournament.
The Hyderabad-based franchise let go of their star opener Shikhar Dhawan and have also not opted for the services of young spin sensation - Rashid Khan. Each franchise can retain up to five players, with at least three Indians.
However, with Warner already in the ranks, SRH still have the option of retaining another overseas player which keeps Rashid still in the contention.
Warner has been the star of the orange army ever since he joined the team in 2014. He was the highest run-scorer in the tournament last year, scoring 641 in 14 matches. Interestingly, the attacking left-hander is also the fifth highest run-scorer in IPL history, scoring 4,014 runs in 114 games at an average of 40.45 with a strike rate of 142.13.
Warner also has three centuries and has 36 half-centuries against his name in IPL history.
On the other hand, Team India’s bowling spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar has is one of the best and proven campaigner’s pacers in the T20 extravaganza. He has taken the most number of wickets in the last two editions of the league and is also the sixth highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
As per the latest guidelines issued by the IPL governing council, each team can opt for up to five players by virtue of a combination of Player Retention (Pre Player Auction) and Right to Match (RTM) (during the Player Auction).
