Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) made their IPL debut in the 2013 season with Kumar Sangakkara leading them before Cameron White took over and marched them to their maiden playoffs. Shikhar Dhawan and Daren Sammy would captain the franchise next season before David Warner was given the reigns.
The Australian then led SRH to their maiden title in 2016, defeating Virat Kohli’s RCB in the final. SRH reached the playoffs in 2017, and the final in 2018 when Kane Williamson was made the captain as Warner served his ban.
Warner returned to lead the side through to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020, but was sacked mid-season in 2021 with Williamson trusted once again. Warner is no more with the franchise.
Meanwhile, SRH have had some other big-name international players who then went on to become captains of other franchises.
Here are three former SRH players who led other teams in the IPL:
KL Rahul
KL Rahul was with SRH in 2014 and 2015 before being released and bought by RCB in 2016. He was then bought by Punjab in the 2018 mega-auction. Rahul was ascended to captaincy by Punjab for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, however, the team finished in the bottom half of the table in both the years under KL Rahul even though the opener had blockbuster seasons with the bat. Rahul left Punjab and is now captain of the Lucknow Super Giants.
Eoin Morgan
England’s white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan was part of SRH in 2015 and 2016, playing 16 games in two seasons with under-par record. Later on, Morgan, now a World Cup-winning captain for England, was bought by KKR in 2020 and was handed the captaincy duties mid-season replacing Dinesh Karthik.
While KKR didn’t reach the playoffs in 2020, Morgan was retained as the captain; he repaid the faith by marshalling the team to the final in 2021 but lost to CSK in the final. After faring poorly with the bat, Morgan was released by KKR and found no bidders in the 2022 mega-auction.
JP Duminy
South Africa’s JP Duminy spent the entire 2013 season on SRH’s bench. However, the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) bought him and after poor showing under Kevin Pietersen in 2014, the Protea batsman led Delhi for 16 matches across the 2015-16 season from which the team won just 6 games. Duminy, however, was brilliant with the bat, scoring over 400 runs in each of the 2014 and 2015 tournaments.
