{"id":22471,"date":"2025-12-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=671413"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:31:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:01:36","slug":"ipl-2026-auction-what-sunrisers-hyderabad-need-and-who-they-could-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026-auction-what-sunrisers-hyderabad-need-and-who-they-could-target\/","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026 Auction: What Sunrisers Hyderabad need and who they could target"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunrisers Hyderabad head into the IPL 2026 mini-auction<\/strong> with a relatively modest purse of Rs 25.50 crore<\/strong>, but significant room to fine-tune their squad. With 10 slots available<\/strong>, including two overseas spots<\/strong>, SRH are expected to focus on addressing specific tactical weaknesses rather than making sweeping changes.<\/p>\n

SRH squad overview<\/h3>\n

Probable playing XII:<\/strong>
\nAbhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Reddy, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins (captain), Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, Domestic pacer<\/em><\/p>\n

Other squad members:<\/strong>
\nJaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Brydon Carse, Kamindu Mendis<\/p>\n

What SRH need at the auction<\/h3>\n

The most significant call SRH made ahead of the auction was releasing Mohammed Shami<\/strong>, a decision that has left a noticeable gap in the new-ball bowling department<\/strong>. While Harshal Patel and Eshan Malinga<\/strong> are specialists at the death, SRH struggled badly in the powerplay in IPL 2025<\/strong>, making early breakthroughs a priority going into the new season.<\/p>\n

As a result, SRH are expected to target a new-ball specialist<\/strong> \u2014 ideally someone who can swing the ball upfront and ease the burden on Pat Cummins during the opening overs.<\/p>\n

On the batting front, Smaran Ravichandran\u2019s role<\/strong> remains fluid. Despite his consistent rise in domestic cricket, whether he becomes a regular in the starting XII will depend on how SRH shape their auction strategy. The franchise released Abhinav Manohar, Wiaan Mulder, Sachin Baby, and Atharva Taide<\/strong>, which means middle-order and backup batting depth<\/strong> is now thin.<\/p>\n

Given this, SRH are likely to add domestic batting cover<\/strong>, and could even use one of their remaining overseas slots to secure a backup overseas batter<\/strong>, particularly as insurance for Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen<\/strong> across a long season.<\/p>\n

Spin bowling appears to be the least urgent concern<\/strong>. Despite releasing Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa<\/strong>, SRH are relatively comfortable with the emergence of Harsh Dubey<\/strong> and the encouraging performances of Zeeshan Ansari<\/strong> in the previous IPL.<\/p>\n

Potential targets for SRH<\/h3>\n

With limited overseas flexibility and a mid-range purse, SRH are expected to focus on value buys<\/strong>, particularly among Indian players who can slot straight into the XI:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Auqib Nabi<\/strong> \u2013 new-ball pacer with powerplay utility<\/li>\n
  • Akash Deep<\/strong> \u2013 proven domestic seamer with swing<\/li>\n
  • Ashok Sharma<\/strong> \u2013 Indian pace option<\/li>\n
  • Sarfaraz Khan<\/strong> \u2013 domestic batting depth and middle-order cover<\/li>\n
  • Deepak Hooda<\/strong> \u2013 all-round option with spin and experience<\/li>\n
  • Mahipal Lomror<\/strong> \u2013 left-handed batting all-rounder<\/li>\n
  • Kartik Sharma<\/strong> \u2013 wicketkeeper-batter depth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Auction outlook<\/h3>\n

    SRH\u2019s auction strategy is expected to be targeted and pragmatic<\/strong>. With a settled top order and a defined bowling core, their focus will be on fixing the powerplay bowling issue<\/strong>, adding batting backups<\/strong>, and ensuring enough squad depth to navigate injuries and form fluctuations. Unlike teams chasing headline names, SRH\u2019s success at the auction will hinge on how efficiently they fill role-specific gaps<\/strong> within their limited budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sunrisers Hyderabad head into the IPL 2026 mini-auction with a relatively modest purse of Rs 25.50 crore, but significant room\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":42672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}