IPL: Number of matches played by Sunrisers Hyderabad players for Team India

The fact that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has lived up to its promise of grooming local Indian talents since its inception is an achievement for Indian cricket. It has also become a means to fast-track players into the national set-up and incorporate youngsters in big domestic sides giving them more platforms to showcase their potential.

Naturally, this has paved way for several players earning call-ups to the Indian team because they have developed a rapport with their IPL skippers. First, it was R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohit Sharma who played for Chennai Super Kings under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, now, it is KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav who played for Royal Challengers Bangalore after Virat Kohli took over as Indian skipper.

While this may not be possible for overseas skippers like David Warner who captains Sunrisers Hyderabad, we know for sure that he has a good rapport with all the players associated with the franchise and appreciates them when they perform well for their national side. The 2016 title winning franchise has been among the top 3 sides with players who were dominant in team India.

Here we look at the number of matches played by the Sunrisers Hyderabad players for Team India since the inception of IPL:

SRH have been a quality bowling side for a long time now and that is why the players that have played for the Indian side and are part of the Hyderabad-based franchise are majorly bowlers too. In 2012, when Hyderabad’s side was Deccan Chargers, merely 2 matches featuring DC players were played by the Indian team. That number rose to 17 in the following year, when SRH was founded and reached an astounding 32 matches in 2014. In 2015, it again came down to 19 and escalated to 24 by 2016. In 2017, 20 matches were played by SRH players.

SRH players who made most of their opportunity

According to a data analysis by Business Standard, SRH players have played over 116 matches for the Indian team between 2012 and 2017. In fact, in 2014, a staggering 34 matches had been played by SRH players. However, it is important to note that the side has an impressive representation in the Indian team because of their high representation on account of some of its marquee players like Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who have all been part of the Indian team for long now.

Yet, players like Mohammad Siraj and Siddharth Kaul are examples of some of the few cricketers who earned call-ups for the Indian team in the last one year after exhibiting their skills in the IPL as well.

SRH players to lookout for this year

Manish Pandey is an exciting addition for Sunrisers this year. We’re well aware of his abilities so it is not going to be surprising if he continues to be in India’s set of plans if he does well for his IPL side. So, youngsters from SRH that we must look forward to are Deepak Hooda and Basil Thampi.

Deepak Hooda has had a terrific year in the domestic circuit and has earned his second India call-up for the Nidahas trophy. His big-hitting abilities were on display when he smashed a hundred and a fifty in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare campaign. His strike-rate of 150-plus during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which saw him score two fifties, also put him on the selectors’ radar.

Thampi, too, earned his call-up for India last year and will be seen showing his skills in the upcoming Nidahas trophy before the IPL but how he fares in this edition of IPL after an exciting debut for Gujarat Lions last year will decide the course for his future in the Indian team.

Table: Matches played by SRH players for the Indian team (year-wise)

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.