IPL Retention: SRH retain two players for 2018 season

The media is currently floating with news about the player retention for the IPL 2018. While most teams opted to make full use of the permissible limit of retaining 3 players, the 2016 IPL champions opted to play a little safer. The Sunrisers Hyderabad, against all speculations, opted to retain only two cricketers ahead of the auctions. SRH certainly sprung a surprise here.

The first retention for the SRH camp was that of their skipper David Warner. David Warner has arguably been the most impactful player for the Sunrisers over the last couple of years. He was the winner of the Orange Cap last year. Also, it was under his leadership in the 2016 edition when the SRH team had lifted the championship.

Sunrisers shelled out INR 12.5 crore for retaining the services of David Warner. The same amount will be the tournament fees for the Australian opener. The second retention made by the Hyderabad franchise was that of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Bhuvi has emerged out to be one of the most lethal weapons in the death overs. He was the winner of the Purple Cap last season. He has been retained for INR 8.5 crore and his league fee will also be the same.

Ones who missed out

Prior to the announcements, it was being speculated that the Sunrisers could also retain Shikhar Dhawan along with Warner and Bhuvneshwar. However, that was not to be. Much like Warner, even Shikhar has been a consistent performer for the Hyderabad franchise over the years. Also, there were rumors about the team management considering retaining uncapped players like Deepak Hooda.

Perhaps, the franchise would be aiming to get these big names through their Right to Match cards. The SRH camp will have quite a lot of options to use these RTM cards. The likes of Rashid Khan and Ben Cutting would be up for grabs. They have INR 59 crore left in their purse for the auctions. Also, they can use 3 Right to Match cards at the auctions now out of the three permissible ones.

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