Sunrisers need batting depth, a top spinner

From five consecutive playoff appearances, which included a title and a runners-up finish, to ending up at the bottom of the table in two of the last three seasons - it's been a dramatic decline for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

- Aditya Chaturvedi

David Warner and Rashid Khan, their most successful captain and spinner respectively, have moved on. So has Kane Williamson. They bid ₹13.25 crore for Harry Brook last year, but the England batter too has been released after a disappointing season.

Precious little went right for SRH in IPL 2023. Led by Aiden Markram for the most part, they won just four of their 14 league games to finish with the least number of points. Heinrich Klaasen (12th position) was their only batter among the top 37 run-scorers across teams and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (14th) their only bowler among the top 22 wicket-takers.

Heading into Tuesday's player auction for IPL 2024, the Sunrisers have it all to do. They will have the second biggest purse, after Gujarat Titans, and will need to fill a number of gaps in their squad to have any chance of turning things around. Last month, they traded left-arm spinbowling all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed from Royal Challengers Bangalore in exchange of Mayank Dagar.