‘The focus for Hyderabad franchise…’ – Former Indian cricketer makes bold prediction ahead of mini auction

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that just having the biggest purse doesn’t give the Hyderabad franchise any advantage over others unless they use it smartly. According to Chopra, Hyderabad doesn’t have enough batting depth in their core, which is likely why they may make a strong bid for both star all-rounders Ben Stokes and Cameron Green.

Stokes will give the middle-order stability, while Green may open with the same explosiveness he displayed against Men in Blue. In a video on his YouTube channel, the former Indian player predicted which players can Hyderabad franchise bid at the upcoming mini-auction for the 2023 edition of the Indian T20 League. 

Will Sikander Raza land in the Hyderabad franchise?

“The focus for Hyderabad should probably be on getting both Ben Stokes and Cameron Green. If not Green, then they might go hard for Curran. They have a lot of money but they will need to spend it wisely, or else there’s no point.”

The commentator thinks that Hyderabad franchise has failed to to replace the quality of spin that Rashid Khan provided while he was with the franchise. Washington Sundar is available for them, but they have also released leg spinner Shreyas Gopal and left-arm spinner Jagadeesa Suchith. 

Additionally, Chopra listed a few spinners that the team would wish to consider in the Indian T20 League 2023 auction.

“Ever since they let Rashid Khan go, spinners have been a problem. They can go for Sikandar Raza, or Indian options like Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla,” he said.

Hyderabad franchise Retained players: Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Kartik Tyagi, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Hyderabad franchise Released players: Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Jagadeesha Suchith, Priyam Garg, Ravikumar Samarth, Romario Shepherd, Saurabh Dubey, Sean Abbott, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Sushant Mishra, Vishnu Vinod