Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad is once again in news for all the wrong reasons after former Australian batter Simon Katich resigned from the post of assistant coach after reportedly being unhappy with some of the side’s hefty auction buys.
Katich, who along with West Indies legend Brian Lara and former India batter Hemang Badani, were added to the SRH coaching group headed by Tom Moody and Muttah Muralitharan, resigned immediately after the auction.
The SRH management, headed by Kavya Maran, hasn’t yet issued any public statement whether Katich’s resignation has been accepted or if he will be requested to reconsider his decision.
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‘The Australian’ reported that Katich’s resignation was primarily due to the fact that the pre-auction strategy discussed wasn’t followed at the two-day auction where SRH had some whopping big buys like Nicholas Pooran (Rs 10.75 crore), Washington Sundar (8.75 crore) and Rahul Tripathi (8.50 crore).
Left-handed spin bowling all-rounder Abhishek Sharma’s Rs 6.75 crore deal also grabbed eye balls, as did the price Nicholas Pooran earned at the auction, after a mediocre season in the UAE last season.
SRH’s three retentions have also come under scanner as they couldn’t convince their best performer spinner Rashid Khan to stay back while keeping New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who has a recurrent elbow injury.
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The two others are young cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir – speedster Urman Malik for his raw pace and Abdul Samad for his big hitting prowess for Rs 4 crore each.
Even Romario Shepherd, who might not get a start, was bought for over a million dollars (Rs 7.75 crore), based on his Caribbean Premier League exploits.
The SRH management was embroiled in the controversy last year when they stripped David Warner from captaincy and then unceremoniously dumped him from the playing eleven during the second phase in the UAE.
The Australian, who led SRH to its only IPL title in 2016, was also not allowed to sit in the dug-out.
Coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant coach Brad Haddin were not retained after the season but Moody, who was the ‘Director of Cricket’ back then is now head coach and Muralitharan stayed back as the premier brains in the team management.