3 captaincy options for Sunrisers Hyderabad after IPL 2023 auction

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) released their captain Kane Williamson ahead of the IPL 2023 auction. They had also released David Warner before the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022, despite the fact that Warner had led the team to success in the past.

SRH came into existence in 2013, and since then, the team has seen eight captains. Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Shikhar Dhawan, Darren Sammy, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Manish Pandey have all captained the team to date.

Out of the ten participating teams in IPL 2022, SRH is the only team that is yet to name its captain for the upcoming IPL season. The team has a few options, and most of those are Indian players. On that note, here is a look at three cricketers who could lead SRH in IPL 2023:

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#1 Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has played 12 IPL seasons

Mayank Agarwal has played 12 seasons in IPL, having made his debut way back in 2011. He has played for three franchises in IPL cricket, viz., Royal Challengers Bangalore (2011-2013), Delhi Daredevils (2013-2016), and the Punjab franchise from 2017–2022.

Agarwal captained the Punjab Kings franchise in IPL 2022 and won seven out of the 14 games, for a 50% record. Punjab Kings finished sixth on the points table in IPL 2022 under Agarwal's leadership.

Mayank Agarwal was the most expensive Indian player in the IPL 2023 auction; Sunrisers Hyderabad acquired him for a sum of Rs. 8.25 crore. Agarwal is an experienced campaigner as far as IPL cricket is concerned, having played 113 IPL matches.

Though he did not taste much success during his stint with Punjab Kings, he has the experience of leading an IPL team for an entire season and is the front-runner to captain SRH in IPL 2023.

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#2 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been with the Hyderabad franchise since 2014

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the most experienced player at Sunrisers Hyderabad, having been associated with the franchise since 2014. Before 2014, he spent three seasons with the franchise from Pune.

Kumar has picked up 154 IPL wickets at an average of 25.79 and has an impressive economy rate of 7.30.

He captained SRH on six occasions in 2019, when their regular skipper Kane Williamson was unavailable due to injury. He also captained the team once in 2022.

However, Kumar did not enjoy much success captaining the team, as five out of the said seven matches ended in defeat. He has won just two matches as captain.

Still, as a senior and experienced player, Kumar is a candidate for SRH captaincy for IPL 2023.

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#3 Washington Sundar

Washington Sundar is a crafty all-rounder

The all-rounder could be a dark horse for the captaincy role for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023. Washington Sundar has played 51 IPL games to date and has picked up 33 wickets at an average of 33.52 and an economy rate of 7.23.

He is an exceptional bowler in the powerplay overs and has the knack of picking up early wickets. With the bat, he has a strike rate of 120.45 in 33 IPL innings and has scored 318 runs.

Sundar is a much-improved batsman and has played many crucial knocks for the national team over the past year or so with the bat.

He is just 23 and has already played six IPL seasons, making him an experienced player in the league. Sundar has a bright future ahead, and Sunrisers Hyderabad could look to the youngster as their skipper for the upcoming IPL season.