6 times Sunrisers Hyderabad/Deccan Chargers overspent on their players in the IPL auctions
The Deccan Chargers were one of the strongest teams during the inaugural IPL back in 2008 comprising of several international as well as domestic stars in their ranks. Sadly, the results did not go in their favour throughout the 2008 season as they finished last among eight franchises with just two wins out of 14 league matches. They turned it around next season with a title-winning performance under skipper, Adam Gilchrist.
Sadly, the franchise which played the first five IPL editions (2008-2012) was terminated in September 2012 by the BCCI over a financial dispute between the board and the franchise owners. Later, the Sun Group bought the team and renamed it as Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Sunrisers played their first IPLduring the 2013 edition.
While the now-defunct Deccan Chargers won the IPL title in 2009, the Sunrisers Hyderabad won in 2016. Over the years, both Deccan Chargers (earlier) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (now) have spent excessively on their players at the IPL auctions. Let us now look at the six instances the Deccan Chargers/ Sunrisers Hyderabad overspent on their players.#1
#1 Manish Pandey (INR 11 crore)- 2018 auction
Though he began his IPL stint with the Mumbai Indians during the first edition of the IPL, he subsequently moved to RCB in the following season. Pandey became the first Indian to score a century in the history of the IPL when he achieved this feat (114* off 73 balls) while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against Deccan Chargers during the second edition of the league in 2009 at Centurion.
After his two-year stint with the Bangalore franchise, he joined the now-defunct Pune Warriors India in 2011. An unsuccessful stay at Pune and the eventual termination of the franchise saw him move to the Kolkata Knight Riders for the seventh edition in 2014- amove that paid rich dividends for Pandey. Apart from winning the title in 2014, he amassed 1370 runs across four seasons during his stay at KKR.
At the 2018 auctions, Pandey was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a staggering amount of INR 11 crore. Such a huge price was rather unexpected and it raised the eyebrows of many in the cricketing circle. He constantly failed with the bat for the Sunrisers on many occasions last season and his struggle to get going was evident. In the 15 matches he played, Pandey made 284 runs at an average of 25.81 and a strike-rate of 115.44.
It was a complete ket down by a batsman who has 2499 IPL runs to his name in 118 matches after being bought for such an astronomical price. In spite of the failure of several batsmen, Kane Williamson's Orange Cap winning performance and their bowling unit's top-class displays took the Sunrisers all the way to the 2018 IPL finals where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings. Nevertheless, the Sunrisers have retained Manish Pandey for the upcoming 2019 IPL hoping for a turnaround in his performance with the bat.