Sunrisers Hyderabad
They headed into the auction with INR 17 crore in their purse having released a few big names off their squad and at the end of an almost six-hour-long bidding process on Thursday in Kolkata, Sunrisers Hyderabad walked out with Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, a left-handed Virat and India’s under-19 world cup skipper Priyam Garg. They bought Marsh for INR 2 crores, Garg for INR 1.9 crores and Virat Singh for INR 1.9 crores. A total of seven players – one overseas only – were brought by SRH during the auction as they spent INR 6.40 crores.
"We are very happy. Obviously we had a very settled squad. We weren't after a lot of international players. We were lucky to get hold of Mitchell Marsh and are excited with our Indian talent as well. We are hopeful that Bhuvneshwar will be alright to bowl. We also have two good left handed bowlers opening the attack. We are just very happy with the squad and are looking forward to the next season. There are some very good squads all around. Pat Cummins' auction was surprising. Knowing him well, I would give him a ribbing. He's not just a quality bowler but he's a quality person as well," said SRH coach Trevor Bayliss after the auction in Kolkata.
The 2016 champions had released Shakib Al Hasan among five players ahead of the auction. Shakib is always a big player in the T20 format, but with ample overseas options already in their kitty for the playing XI, the Bangladeshi only seemed a liability for SRH. New Zealand's Martin Guptill was another player let gone. He had come in as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow and hence his release was always a certainty. Deepak Hooda was among the Indian names released by SRH. He managed only 373 runs and took six wickets across four seasons for SRH. It was only comprehensible that SRH had run out of patience for Hooda.
Kane Williamson, the captain, Bairstow and David Warner will hence form the top-order lineup as usual while Manish Pandey and Vijay Shakar will be given the middle-order responsibilities. And Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan will take over the bowling department. SRH still looks one of the most settled sides in IPL having retained a total of 18 players for the 13th season.
RETAINED: Kane Williamson, David Warner, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Sreevats Goswami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Shabaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan.
PLAYERS BOUGHT: Mitchell Marsh, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Bhavanak Sandeep, Fabian Allen.
RELEASED: Deepak Hooda, Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan.
FULL SQUAD: Kane Williamson, David Warner, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Sreevats Goswami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Mitchell Marsh, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Bhavanak Sandeep, Fabian Allen
