Defending Champions Sunrisers Hyderabad sign new sponsors

Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad unveiled a list of big name sponsors, as the franchise gears up to defend its title in the 10th season of the Indian Premier League. Nerolac, Ultratech, Jio, Canara Bank, Astral Bondtite, Kurl On, Red FM and Sun Direct have all signed on as partners for the season. Among other big names include Gillette, UB, Apollo Hospitals, Tyka and Motul Oil.

CEO of the 2016 winners, K Shanmugam said. “Together with our sponsors, we look forward to embarking on what promises to be an exciting, and hopefully in our case, a triumphant, history-making journey ahead.”

David Warner will continue as captain of the side, backed up by star players Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Kane Williamson, Ashish Nehra, Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting. Among the new picks are Ben Laughlin and Chris Jordan, who are equally talented and show promise.

Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi – the two Afghanistan players – will make their IPL debuts. Muttiah Muralitharan and Tom Moody will continue as coaches with VVS Laxman being the mentor.

Shikhar Dhawan, meanwhile, is happy to have found back his form, as he revealed in a chat with Cricket Next. “I was putting too much pressure on myself. To be honest, pressure comes naturally when you are fighting it out for your country against the best in the business from across the world. But this time away from the game made me realise that I need to start enjoying myself and play with a free mind. So, even though I had a few poor outings for Delhi, I knew it was just a matter of time as I was once again enjoying my game. And here we are,” he smiles.

Hyderabad hasn’t enjoyed consistent success since the first edition of IPL, will be eager to defend their title this year.