The team made their first IPL appearance in 2013, where they reached the playoffs, eventually finishing in fourth place. The Sunrisers won their maiden IPL title in the 2016 season, defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs in the final. The team has qualified for the play-off stage of the tournament in every season since 2016. In 2018, the team reached the finals of the Indian Premier League, but lost to Chennai Super Kings. The team is considered one of the best bowling sides, often admired for its ability to defend low totals. David Warner is the leading run scorer for the side, having won the Orange Cap three times, in 2015, 2017, and 2019.[7]Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leading wicket-taker having won the Purple Cap twice, in 2016 and 2017.[8][9] The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the brand value of the Sunrisers Hyderabad which saw a decline of 4 percent to US$57.4 million in 2020 as the overall brand value of the IPL decreased to US$4.4 billion, according to Brand Finance.[10]
Franchise history
Sunrisers Hyderabad replaced the Deccan Chargers in 2012 and debuted in 2013. The franchise was taken over by Sun TV Network after the Deccan Chronicle went bankrupt. The squad was announced in Chennai on 18 December 2012. The team is owned by Sun TV Network who won the bid with ₹85.05 crore (US$11 million) per year for a five-year deal, a week after the Chargers were terminated due to prolonged financial issues. Sun TV Network Limited, which is headquartered in Chennai, is one of India's biggest television networks with 32 TV channels and 45 FM radio stations, making it India's largest media and entertainment company.[11]
The team jersey was unveiled on 8 March 2013, and the team anthem composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar was released on 12 March 2013. The logo was unveiled on 20 December 2012, along with the announcement that the team's management would be led by Kris Srikkanth, now replaced by veteran Muttiah Muralitharan, Tom Moody and V. V. S. Laxman.[12][13]
For the 2014 season, Pune Warriors India was defunct and not replaced, leaving only eight teams in the league. The team retained two players, Dale Steyn and Shikhar Dhawan.[16] As a result of this retention, the team had an auction purse of ₹380 million (US$4.8 million) and two right-to-match cards.[17] Shikhar Dhawan and Darren Sammy were named as captain and vice captain respectively.[18] Due to the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the season was partially held outside India with the opening 20 matches hosted in the United Arab Emirates[19] and the remaining matches played in India from 2 May onwards.[20] The team finished in 6th place with six wins and eight losses, failing to secure a place in the playoffs. Dhawan led the team for the first ten matches while Sammy led the team for remaining four.[18]
For the 2015 season, SRH retained 13 players and released 11.[21]David Warner was appointed as the captain for this season and led the team in all matches played.[22]Muttiah Muralitharan was appointed the team's bowling coach as well as mentor. Sunrisers Hyderabad played their first three home games at Visakhapatnam and the remaining four home games at Hyderabad.[23] The team again finished 6th with seven wins and seven losses, failing to reach the playoffs. Warner won the first Orange Cap for SRH.[24]
2016–2020: Maiden title and consecutive playoff appearances
For the 2016 season, SRH retained 15 players and released nine.[25][26] After the auction, SRH traded two players.[27] Sunrisers Hyderabad were crowned champions after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final and ending the season with 11 wins and six losses. This was their maiden, and to date only, title. Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first Sunrisers Hyderabad player to win the Purple Cap.
For the 2017 season, SRH retained 17 players and released six from the title-winning squad. The team then spent ₹45.1 crore (US$5.6 million) at the auction, leaving ₹20.9 crore (US$2.6 million) remaining.[28] As the defending champions, as per IPL norms, SRH hosted both the opening and closing ceremonies of the season. The team finished 3rd on points in the table. They lost against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the eliminator match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The team made a below-par total of 128–7 in 20 overs, but the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings was reduced to just six overs due to rain. The revised total was 48, which the Knight Riders met with seven wickets and four balls remaining. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was able to retain the Purple Cap[29] while David Warner won the Orange Cap.[30]
For the 2018 season, the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were reinstated in the league after serving a two-year suspension from the competition due to the involvement of their players in the 2013 IPL betting scandal.[31] The IPL governing council decided that a maximum of five players can be retained by each IPL team. SRH retained only two players and released all remaining players from the squad. The retention of two players meant SRH went in to the 2018 IPL auction with ₹59 crore in their auction purse and three right-to-match (RTM) cards. The salary deduction for every retained player from the franchise's salary purse was stipulated to be ₹15 crore, ₹11 crore and ₹7 crore if three players were retained; ₹12.5 crore and ₹8.5 crore if two players were retained; and ₹12.5 crore if only one player was retained. For retaining an uncapped player, salary deduction was set at ₹3 crore.[32][33] David Warner had stepped down from captaincy on 28 March 2018 and the BCCI announced that he will not be allowed to play in IPL 2018 following the Australian ball-tampering controversy.[34] On 29 March, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was chosen to lead SRH for the 2018 season. On 31 March, England batsman Alex Hales was announced as replacement for the banned David Warner.[35][36][37] SRH finished the 2018 season as runners-up of the competition after losing to Chennai Super Kings in the final with 10 wins and seven losses.[38] Williamson won the Orange Cap with 735 runs.[39]
Ahead of the 2021 auction, SRH retained 22 players and released 5 players. On auction day (18 February 2021), SRH bought 3 players – J Suchith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Kedar Jadhav. In addition, SRH added Tom Moody back to the staff team as the Director of Cricket. Following the team's poor start to the season with 1 win from 7 games, SRH announced Kane Williamson as their captain for the remainder of the season replacing David Warner.[42]
SRH appointed Brian Lara as the head coach ahead of the 2023 season replacing Tom Moody.[44] SRH have announced Aiden Markram as the new captain for 2023 season replacing former captain Kane Williamson following a poor 2022 season. Ahead of the auction, SRH retained 12 players while the franchise released their captain Kane Williamson and other players including Nicholas Pooran, Jagadeesha Suchith, and Romario Shepherd. On the auction day, their significant buys were Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen and Adil Rashid.[45] The team disappointed, managing only 4 wins over the season (including a solitary win at the home ground) while many players had difficult campaigns, including Brook, Agarwal and Malik with Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mayank Markande performances being the positives.
^The information in the nationality column is according to ESPNcricinfo. This information may not necessarily reflect the player's birthplace or citizenship.
During the 2017 season, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad were defending IPL champions, they hosted the season opener and final. SRH selected their primary home ground to host their home games.
During the 2019 season, Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium was selected to host the IPL final after the BCCI decided to shift the match from M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai after TNCA failed to secure permission to open three locked stands for the match.[47]Hyderabad Cricket Association won the award for best ground and pitch during 2019 IPL.[48]
Current squad
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
* denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
* denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.
There is a notable rivalry between Royal Challengers Bangalore with the Hyderabad franchises, first with Deccan Chargers and now with Sunrisers Hyderabad. The clashes between Bangalore and Hyderabad have been intense with the latter ultimately dominating the former. Deccan Chargers had won 6 out of the 11 clashes between the two and Sunrisers currently lead by 12 games to the 9 games that were won by RCB. There is also a notable trend where the Hyderabad franchise has jeopardised RCB's campaign in some way or the other. The 2009 Indian Premier League final and the 2016 Indian Premier League final were both won by the Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. Their 2020 clash was also at a high stake eliminator, where a fifty by Kane Williamson trumped RCB to knock them out of IPL 2020. The most recent example would be even with their abysmal 2021 season, SRH were able to beat a on the rise RCB at a time when RCB could have reached the top 2 but ended up in the 3rd-place resulting in them having to play the eliminator, where they ended up eventually losing to KKR to knock them out of IPL 2021. Their 2022 IPL campaign was also affected by SRH, who they lost by 9 wickets after scoring 68 in their first counter and were under pressure because of their negative run rate throughout their otherwise strong campaign.[52]
Bangalore based franchise in the Indian Premier League
Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2024
