IPL Mega-Auction 2022 | Mistakes that Sunrisers Hyderabad might regret in the long run

The Champions of the 2016 Indian Premier League edition have been a very consistent side in the league ever since their inception, but the last few years haven’t really gone their way. They lost two of their best players in David Warner and Rashid Khan prior to the auction. Warner had a dispute with the coaching staff and was dropped towards the end of the previous edition and as a result, he decided to leave the franchise. On the other hand, they couldn’t manage to retain the Afghan spin king Rashid who was then signed up by the new franchise Gujarat Titans.

The Hyderabad based franchise then decided to retain Kane Williamson as their skipper and two Indian uncapped players in Umran Malik and Abdul Samad. The auction was going to play a key role for them as they looked to rebuild from scratch. They might have signed up a few big names in the auction but as far as we can see they might have made a few big blunders in the auction room.

Missing out on Jason Holder, Mitchell Marsh, and signing Romario Shepherd

Jason Holder was one of the biggest overseas all-rounders who was going to go under the hammer in this year's auction. It was pretty evident that multiple franchises would bid for him. The biggest error was not retaining him and not pushing for fast bowling all-rounders signatures. At this point in time, Jason Holder is one of the best death bowlers for the West Indies and his performance under pressure with the bat made him a very ideal option for the man in orange. It was very surprising to see that Kane Williamson led team didn’t push for Holder and they were never really in the race. The big man from Barbados was roped in by Lucknow Super Giants for INR 8.75 crores.

Heading into the auction it was kind of expected that SRH would go all out for Mitchel Marsh but they opted to pull out at INR 6.25 crores and Delhi Capitals managed to secure his signature for INR 6.50 crores. It came as a huge surprise as Marsh was one of the heroes of Australia’s triumph in the ICC T20 World Cup and was also a part of the SRH camp previously.

In a shocking turn of events they ended up signing Romario Shepherd for INR 7.75 crores during the accelerated auction on Day 2. They were desperate for an overseas all rounder and ended up overpaying. To every member of our team watching the auction this came as a mind boggling purchase as the player doesn’t have the stats to back his price tag. We hope that the Guyana all-rounder can live up to his price tag, but the decision is something we can’t wrap our heads around. They could have easily had the services of Mitchell Marsh for the same amount of money.

Signing Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi for a total of INR 15 crores

Abhishek Sharma the 21-year-old all-rounder from Punjab has been re-signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Tata IPL auction 2022 for a whopping sum of INR 6.50 crores. He is a great prospect for the future but is yet to prove himself in the toughest twenty. Paying over 6 crores to an Indian uncapped all-rounder who bats lower down the order and very rarely completes his spell of four overs is something that doesn’t really sound good. 

It gets much more interesting when we look at the fact they could have easily signed Deepak Hooda, an Indian capped all-rounder for less than INR 6 crores. The fact that they went all out for Abhishek Sharma and backed out from the race for Mitchell Marsh seems like a crazy piece of business.

Rahul Tripathi was another Indian uncapped all-rounder on whom Hyderabad have overspent. They have paid INR 8.50 crores for the former KKR player. The fact that he is not really a proper all-rounder is something that suggests that he has been overpaid here. He averages just over 25 with the bat and is yet to pick up a wicket in the Indian Premier League. The fact that Jason Holder, an experienced overseas top-notch all-rounder who came into the auction way ahead of Tripathi was sold for INR 8.75 crores recommend that they should have gone for him.

Signing Nicolas Pooran for INR 10.75 crores instead of Jonny Bairstow

SRH had an opportunity to retain Jonny Bairstow ahead of the auction but they opted against it. The English wicket keeper batter has been one of their most consistent performers in the last two years. There was a high possibility of SRH signing Bairstow back in the auction. The team from Hyderabad went after the majority of the wicket-keepers from set 1. 

They pulled out from the race for Bairstow with the final penultimate bid of INR 6.50 crores, Punjab Kings capitalized on it and were able to secure the former SRH wicket keeper for a sum of INR 6.75 crores. After pulling out of the race for Bairstow they decided to go all out for Nicolas Pooran and had to cover for the Caribbean keeper, who cost them INR 10.75 crores.

Pooran has the age advantage over Bairstow, but when it comes to skills and consistency, Jonny is a better option any day. The only practical reason for them to thrift their purse on  Pooran is the fact that he is a middle order batter while Bairstow is someone who bats in the top order. Sunrisers have had middle order woes for the last few seasons and Pooran might help in that aspect. But, he still is a deal that we can’t wrap our heads around.