They began their season by winning their opening fixture on 9 April, and went on to become the first team to qualify for the play-offs on 10 May. They beat the Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 to reach the Final where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets to finish the season as runners-up. Williamson won the Orange Cap for scoring 735 runs in the IPL season.
Kane Williamson was appointed as the captain of Sunrisers for 2018 IPL
Background
The Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals were re-included in the 2018 season after serving two years of suspension from the competition due to the involvement of their owners in the 2013 IPL betting scandal. The IPL Governing Council also announced that a maximum of five players can be retained by each IPL team of which no more than three can be selected through retention in the lead up to the auction, and a maximum of three through right-to-match (RTM) cards during the auction. The other restrictions on player retention were: a maximum of three capped Indian players can be retained, and only two overseas and two uncapped Indian players can be retained - kept to avoid repetition. The salary cap for each team for the 2018 season had been increased from ₹660 million (US$7.7 million) to ₹800 million (US$9.4 million). A franchise was allowed to spend a total of only ₹330 million (US$3.9 million) on retention ahead of the 2018 IPL auction, leaving it at least ₹470 million (US$5.5 million) to spend at the auction.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad announced their retention list on 4 January 2018 retaining David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They went into the 2018 IPL auction with the remaining salary cap of ₹590 million (US$6.9 million) and three right-to-match cards.
Player auction
The Sunrisers Hyderabad started the auction by using their first RTM card for Shikhar Dhawan. They acquired Shakib Al Hasan and welcomed back Kane Williamson from marquee list in auction. They bid heavily on Manish Pandey and got him for ₹110 million (US$1.3 million) which made him the joint-most expensive buy of the day for an Indian player. They later added Carlos Brathwaite and Yusuf Pathan from the capped all-rounders list and also got Wriddhiman Saha as their first-choice wicket-keeper. They used their remaining two RTM cards to retain Rashid Khan and Deepak Hooda. They later added Ricky Bhui to their batting line-up. They participated actively during the auction of uncapped fast-bowlers retaining Siddarth Kaul and also getting the services of Thangarasu Natarajan, Basil Thampi and Khaleel Ahmed. This ended the first day of auction for the Sunrisers with the addition of 14 players to their squad spending ₹510.5 million (US$6.0 million).
On the second day, the Sunrisers got Mohammad Nabi back into their squad and later added Sandeep Sharma, possibly to form an opening bowling partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They also added Sachin Baby, Billy Stanlake and Shreevats Goswami, before retaining Chris Jordan and Tanmay Agarwal to add depth to their squad in the accelerated process in the auction. The franchise bought Bipul Sharma and the local boy, Mehdi Hasan, in the second round of the auction to fill their maximum quota of 25 players. This ended the second day of auction for the Sunrisers Hyderabad with the addition of 9 players for ₹73 million (US$850,000).
A total of eight teams competed in the Indian Premier League in the 2018 season. The teams played each other twice in a home-and-away round-robin format in the league phase. Two points were awarded for each win, one point per no-result, and none for defeats. The playoff stage was played according to the page playoff system and provided top two teams in the league stage with two ways of qualifying for the Final. The top two teams first faced each other in Qualifier 1, the winner of which qualified for the Final. The third and fourth placed teams in league stage faced each other in Eliminator. The loser of Qualifier 1 played against the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2, the winner of which also qualified for the Final. The winner of Final was crowned as the IPL champions.
Offseason
The fixtures for this season were released on 14 February with the Sunrisers Hyderabad playing their first match against the Rajasthan Royals on 9 April at their home ground in Hyderabad. On 28 March, David Warner resigned as the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the aftermath of a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. The Board of Control for Cricket in India later announced on the same day that Warner along with his Australian team-mate, Steve Smith, would not be allowed to play in 2018 IPL after Cricket Australia imposed one-year ban imposed on them. The following day, the Sunrisers Hyderabad announced Kane Williamson would serve as captain and Bhuvneshwar Kumar would be vice-captain for the season. Later, they announced Alex Hales as Warner's replacement for the season. The batsman was bought for his base price of ₹10 million (US$120,000) from the Registered and Available Player Pool (RAPP) list.
On the squad available for this season, coach Tom Moody said,
We have a very well balanced squad where we have a number of different people that can fill different roles within the team. The success we had in the auction, we managed to get the depth and balance that we wanted. Therefore, losing an impact player like David Warner, we have managed to fill, we can still get the balance we want, still have the impact that we want in the top six. We are replacing a good captain in David Warner, who was vice captain of the Australian team, with another international captain (Kane Williamson)
Season summary
April
On 9 April, the Sunrisers started their season campaign with a nine-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals. Williamson, the Sunrisers' new captain, elected to field first after winning toss and the bowlers justified his call with Billy Stanlake making the batsmen struggle with his awkward bounce while spin twins Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan further applied brakes in middle overs. Siddharth Kaul also impressed with two scalps while ensuring that he did not leak any runs in the death overs to restrict the Royals to 125/9 in 20 overs. Wriddhiman Saha opened with Shikhar Dhawan to start the chase for the Sunrisers but fell while attempting to loft over midfield. Dhawan, who got a reprieve after Ajinkya Rahane dropped his catch at first slip on zero, slammed a 33-ball half-century to complete the Sunrisers' chase with Williamson providing a stable stand, playing his natural game and "relying on pure timing and hand-eye coordination".
On 12 April, the Sunrisers eked out a hard-fought win over the Mumbai Indians in a last-ball thriller. Earlier, Williamson won the toss and elected to field. Sandeep Sharma was handed his debut for the Sunrisers, replacing the injured Bhuvneshwar, and started troubling the Mumbai Indians batsmen right from the start, but it was Stanlake who succeeded in dismissing Rohit Sharma. Later, Kaul dismissed Ishan Kishan and Evin Lewis inside power-play. The Mumbai Indians were slowly choked in the middle overs by Rashid, who bowled 18 dot balls and took wicket of Ben Cutting. The Mumbai Indians' batsmen also played some reckless shots losing wickets which finally saw them finishing the innings with 147/8. With a low total to chase, Dhawan played aggressively and laid the platform for the chase stitching a 62-run partnership with Saha in just 6.5 overs. But the introduction of Mayank Markande saw the Sunrisers slip from 73/1 to 107/5. Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda brought the Sunrisers to within 12 runs of victory before Jasprit Bumrah and Mustafizur Rahman delivered two vital strikes each. Off the final ball, Stanlake hoicked the slower delivery to the midwicket fence to script a one-wicket win.
The Sunrisers completed a hat-trick of wins in the season with a five-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders on 14 April. Williamson once again won the toss and elected to field. Chris Lynn built a 39-run partnership with Nitish Rana after Bhuvneshwar removed Robin Uthappa early on. But the Sunrisers pulled the match back with Stanlake cramping Rana. Sunil Narine struggled at No.4 while an excellent catch by Manish Pandey sent Andre Russell back. Bhuvneshwar removed Dinesh Karthik in 19th over with the Sunrisers restricting the Knight Riders to 138/8. Saha provided a brisk start to the Sunrisers but the innings suffered a small collapse in the middle when spin was introduced. They recovered through a 59-run partnership between Williamson and Shakib with the former completing his half-century. In the end, Pathan finished the chase with two boundaries and a six to register the Sunrisers' first win ever at the Eden Gardens.
On 19 April, the Sunrisers lost their first match of the season to the Kings XI Punjab by 15 runs. Williamson lost the toss and was put to field. The Kings XI started batting cautiously and Chris Gayle was initially dropped on 14 off Rashid by Saha - a difficult chance. Later, Gayle stopped his limits and launched into Chris Jordan and later Rashid scoring sixes. Though Gayle slowed in the middle when the Kings XI lost two quick wickets in succession, he again targeted Rashid hammering four sixes in an over to complete his century and helped the Kings XI finish strongly at 193/3. The Sunrisers suffered a jolt early in the chase when Dhawan was forced to retire hurt after taking a blow to his elbow. They also lost Saha and Pathan early to Mohit Sharma's varying pace. Despite a 76-run stand between Williamson and Pandey, they struggled to catch up with the required run-rate. After losing Williamson and Hooda to Andrew Tye's knuckle balls, the Sunrisers could manage only 178/4 in 20 overs.
On 22 April, the Sunrisers suffered their second successive defeat, their first at home this season, to the Chennai Super Kings in a last ball thriller. The Super Kings struggled initially after being put in by Williamson, losing their openers but local player, Ambati Rayudu, used his familiarity of the ground to beat the conditions and built a 112-run partnership with Suresh Raina. Despite starting slowly, Rayudu scored 48 off his last 16 balls before he was dismissed run-out due to a misunderstanding with his partner. A late flourish by MS Dhoni in the end helped the Super Kings finish at 182/3. The Sunrisers lost three quick wickets inside power-play to Deepak Chahar but Williamson kept the Sunrisers in the hunt with his knock of 84 off 51 balls. He built a 49-run partnership with Shakib who fell to Karn Sharma while trying to pace his innings. Pathan scored two sixes off Dwayne Bravo to bring the Sunrisers back to the game but the Super Kings came back dismissing Williamson. Despite Rashid's wild knock at the end, the Sunrisers fell short by four runs.
Stanlake was ruled out of rest of the season due to a fractured finger which he sustained during the game against the Chennai Super Kings.
On 24 April, the Sunrisers successfully defended 118 to complete their double over the Mumbai Indians by systematically dismantling them for 87 - the second lowest total successfully defended ever in the IPL. The Sunrisers lost openers early to Mitchell McClenaghan after they were put to bat. Williamson and Pandey then put on a 24-run stand to resurrect the innings before Hardik Pandya dismissed both. Another slow partnership was built between Pathan and Mohammad Nabi before Markande removed the latter, restricting the Sunrisers to 118/10 in 18.4 overs. With a low total to defend, the Sunrisers attacked early taking three quick wickets inside power-play. Krunal Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav's 40-run partnership kept the Mumbai Indians in the hunt before Rashid trapped Krunal and managed to break into the Mumbai Indians' lower order. The loss of Suryakumar to Basil Thampi ended the Mumbai Indians' hopes. Mustafizur's mistimed pull in 19th over off Thampi ended the Sunrisers' losing streak.
On 26 April, the Sunrisers again defended another low score of 132 to win over the Kings XI Punjab. The Sunrisers struggled initially losing three quick wickets to Ankit Rajpoot, after Ravichandran Ashwin opted to field. But the Sunrisers came back when Pandey, who was put down thrice – on 4, 9 & 44 – capitalized on it to put together a 52-run partnership with Shakib, who was also given a second chance when he was caught at zero off overstepping Barinder Sran. Pandey reached his half-century while building another crucial partnership with Pathan that helped the Sunrisers get to 132/6. K. L. Rahul and Gayle gave the perfect start to the Kings XI Punjab's chase shaving 53 runs off their target in seven overs but Rashid's leg-break dismissed Rahul and opened the flood-gates for Kings XI. With Thampi bouncing Gayle off, and Rashid and Shakib commanding the middle overs sharing five wickets between them, the Kings XI lost seven wickets for 41 runs and were eventually bowled out for 119.
On 29 April, the Sunrisers achieved a hat-trick of wins for the second time in the season with a 11-run win over the Rajasthan Royals. Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. Losing Dhawan early in the innings, Hales, who replaced Nabi, chose to bide his time to build a 92-run partnership with Williamson. Williamson paced the innings in the middle overs scoring 63 off 43 balls. But Hales' dismissal to Krishnappa Gowtham and Ish Sodhi removing Williamson sparked a collapse as Jofra Archer ran through the lineup to restrict the Sunrisers to 151/7. Sandeep ripped off Rahul Tripathi's bails early in the innings for the Sunrisers. Rahane and Sanju Samson swiftly took the Royals to 72 until Kaul's knuckle ball saw off Samson for the Sunrisers. Losing Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler to Pathan and Rashid, pressure started to mount on the Royals. With some tight bowling at the end, the Sunrisers restricted Royals to 140/6 to complete a double over them in the season.
May
On 5 May the Sunrisers posted their highest successful run-chase of the season to register a win over the Delhi Daredevils. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Daredevils started brightly, riding on a half-century from Prithvi Shaw and a useful 44 from Shreyas Iyer to reach 95/1 in 10 overs. But the Sunrisers bowlers reeled them back with Rashid foxing Shaw and later Rishabh Pant with his varying pace. Rashid also kept his overs tight, which resulted in Naman Ojha's run-out. Vijay Shankar's last-over burst off Bhuvneshwar for 17 runs helped the Daredevils finish with 163/5. The Sunrisers openers provided the perfect start, with Hales scoring 45 off 31 balls after Glenn Maxwell dropped a sitter when Hales was on nine. They put on 76 runs in nine overs before Amit Mishra removed both. Later, Williamson and Pandey added 46 runs for third wicket before Pandey fell to Liam Plunkett while trying to pace the chase. In the end Pathan struck two fours and two sixes to complete the chase and give the Sunrisers their fourth consecutive victory in the season.
On 7 May the Sunrisers equaled their best streak of five consecutive wins by defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore at home by five runs. Put in to bat by Virat Kohli, the Sunrisers lost three quick wickets before Williamson built a 64-run partnership with Shakib. Williamson adapted to the pitch, perfectly maneuvering the ball into the gaps with 31 coming off his first 29 balls and later increasing the pace - hitting 25 off the next nine balls. But after both set batsmen were dismissed in the space of eight deliveries, the Royal Challengers came back into the match in the final overs as the Sunrisers lost five wickets for 12 runs in the last two overs to be bowled out for 146. Royal Challengers started the chase strongly with cameo from Parthiv Patel and a flurry of shots from Kohli, who shaved 55 off the target. Once Patel was dismissed, the Royal Challengers lost three quick wickets to slip to 84/5. Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme rebuilt their chase with a 57-run partnership, but tight bowling by the Sunrisers at the end saw the Royal Challengers fall short by five runs.
On 10 May the Sunrisers successfully chased their 188-run target against the Delhi Daredevils to register a nine-wicket win and became the first team to qualify for the playoffs. Earlier, Pant scored an unbeaten 128 - the highest score by an Indian batsman in Twenty20 cricket. After their being put to field by Pant, the Sunrisers' bowling attack slowed the Daredevils' start, with Shakib dismissing Shaw and Jason Roy in successive balls. Then Iyer was dismissed run-out due to a mix-up with Pant. Harshal Patel tried to pace the innings with a couple of sixes off slower balls, but another mix-up in the middle by Pant resulted in Harshal's run-out. Later, Pant started to clear the rope with ease, taking the attack to the Sunrisers' bowlers. He brought up his century in 56 balls and finished strongly for the Daredevils, scoring 26 runs in the last over off Bhuvneshwar. Though the Sunrisers lost Hales early, Dhawan, along with Williamson, batted freely, with both maneuvering the gaps and rotating the strike. The Daredevils' bowlers tried every trick to end the partnership, but both continued to find the big overs as the Sunrisers chased the target with seven balls to spare to complete a double over the Daredevils in the season and also to extend their record-winning streak to six.
On 13 May the Chennai Super Kings snapped the Sunrisers' winning streak by handing them an eight-wicket defeat. Dhoni won the toss, and his bowlers exploited the swing to keep the Sunrisers' batting quiet. Chahar got rid of Hales and forced Dhawan and Williamson to bat cautiously. As the pitch became flat and the swing gone, both batsmen struck the ball well to complete their half-centuries and stitched together a 123-run partnership. The Super Kings pulled things back to remove both off consecutive balls, and despite a late surge by Hooda, the Super Kings were able to restrict the Sunrisers to 179/4. With no swing to assist the bowlers, the Super Kings' batsmen, Shane Watson and Rayudu, stitched together a 134-run opening partnership until a late call from Rayudu got Watson run out. But the century from Rayudu and a brisk knock from Dhoni completed the chase for the Super Kings.
On 17 May the Sunrisers suffered their second consecutive defeat, a 14-run loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in a high-scoring match, as Williamson's brisk knock of 81 in 42 balls went in vain. After winning the toss and electing to field, the Sunrisers removed Parthiv early in the first over, but Kohli played cautiously with AB de Villiers at the other end. When Rashid removed Kohli inside six overs, Moeen Ali joined hands with de Villiers to steer the match as they added 107 in 57 balls. De Grandhomme and Sarfaraz Khan provided the final flourish as the Royal Challengers added 69 in the last five overs to finish the innings with 218/6. The Sunrisers got off to a solid start, with Hales and Dhawan adding 47, but Williamson's knock helped the Sunrisers to take control of the match as he built a 135-run partnership with Pandey. Williamson's dismissal in the first ball of the last over off Mohammad Siraj sealed the win for the Royal Challengers as the Sunrisers fell short by 14 runs.
On 19 May the Kolkata Knight Riders handed a five-wicket defeat to the Sunrisers in the final league match of the season. Earlier, the Sunrisers' openers, Shreevats Goswami and Dhawan, capitalized during the power-play, scoring 60 runs. Williamson did not let the scoring rate dip for the Sunrisers after Goswami's departure. But their batting collapsed after Williamson's dismissal as the Sunrisers lost eight wickets for 45 runs in the last 43 balls, with Prasidh Krishna the best pick among the Knight Riders' bowlers with figures of 4/30. Narine set the tempo for the Knight Riders' chase and took the total to 66 in power-play. After Narine's departure, Lynn and Uthappa further firmed the Knight Riders' grip on the chase, adding 67 runs for the second wicket. Later, Karthik finished off the game for the Knight Riders as they became the third team to qualify for playoffs.
Playoffs
On 22 May, the Sunrisers lost to the Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 but had another chance of making it to the finals by virtue of finishing in top two of the league stage table. After being put in to bat, the Sunrisers lost Dhawan off the first ball of the match which triggered a top-order batting collapse. Williamson and Shakib lost their wickets to short balls while Goswsami and Pathan gave return catches to Lungi Ngidi and Ravindra Jadeja. However, a late innings attack from Carlos Brathwaite, who built a 51-run partnership with Bhuvneshwar, helped the Sunrisers to finish with 139/7 in 20 overs. The Sunrisers bowlers started strongly as Bhuvneshwar removed Watson for a duck and Kaul dismissed Rayudu and Raina off successive balls. Dhoni tried to rebuild innings with Faf du Plessis but was castled by a googly from Rashid. Rashid and Shakib kept the scoring rate tight in the middle overs by regularly taking wickets. But du Plessis' late surge of 46 in his last 18 balls won the match for the Super Kings and took his team to the final.
On 25 May, the Sunrisers snapped their four-match losing streak defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders and made it to the final in the penultimate match of the season. Put in to bat, Dhawan and Saha started on a cautious note, punishing bad balls and built their partnership to 56, before Kuldeep Yadav struck twice in the same over and Chawla once to remove both set batsmen and Williamson. The Knight Riders continued to pile pressure on the Sunrisers batsmen, taking wickets regularly in the middle overs. But Rashid launched a brisk knock at the end-overs scoring 34 off just ten balls and took his team to a total of 174. The Knight Riders got off to a quick start from Narine and Lynn. Rana further ensured that the high scoring rate was maintained after Narine's departure. But a slip from Rana while running resulted in his run-out and triggered a collapse for Knight Riders, as Rashid took three wickets and Shakib took one apart from keeping the runs down. Shubman Gill kept the Knight Riders' hopes alive with some flurry of shots but Brathwaite struck twice in succession in the last over to restrict the Knight Riders to 161/9. Rashid became the first player in IPL history to score 25 runs, take three wickets, hold on to two catches and be involved in effecting a run-out in the same match.
On 27 May, the Sunrisers lost to the Chennai Super Kings in the final to end the tournament as runners-up. This was their fourth loss to the same opponent in the season. Dhoni put the Sunrisers in to bat and the team lost Goswami early. Dhawan and Williamson played cautiously in the beginning but the Sunrisers lost Dhawan to Jadeja once he tried to pace his innings. The Sunrisers made runs from their middle-order despite losing wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs. A final flourish came from Pathan and Brathwaite who finished the Sunrisers' innings at 178/6. The Super Kings lost du Plessis early but Watson and Raina did not give the Sunrisers any chance to bounce back with their 117-run partnership. Though Watson started slowly playing out Bhuvneshwar's overs, he pummeled the other Sunrisers bowlers to reach his second century in the IPL season. After Raina's departure, Rayudu joined hands with Watson to complete the chase for the Super Kings and helped them lift their third IPL trophy.
Williamson was awarded the Orange Cap for scoring most runs in the season. He became the second captain of the Sunrisers after Warner to receive the award.
Most half-centuries scored in the 2018 IPL : Kane Williamson (8)
Reaction
The Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson praised Rashid Khan for his extremely successful IPL stint. He said, “He’s a world-class player. It’s always a pleasure to face him at the nets and against him as well in the near future. The full package Rashid is, it is great to have him in the side and he had a brilliant year.”
Despite the loss in the final to the Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers coach Tom Moody was satisfied with his team's overall performance in the season. He said, “At the end, we ended on the top of the table. We played well at home and away as well. As a full package, we are very satisfied.” Moody also praised Williamson, saying, “Kane has shown the cricketing world that he can play all three formats with utmost authority. And when he's captain, every team is very lucky. We're fortunate to have him in our squad. He has truly been wonderful right throughout the tournament." He called Rashid "a terrific cricketer.”
The Sunrisers' mentor V. V. S. Laxman also commented on the team's performance. He said, “Well, the three biggest positives for Sunrisers in this IPL were 1. Kane Williamson as captain and batsman; he was sensational. 2. The way we won matches under tremendous pressure, defending low totals. 3 The evolution of Rashid Khan as a high-impact bowler with his great consistency and wicket-taking ability”. “This is what we as a franchisee always take pride in — letting players express themselves freely on and off the field,” he added.
Three Sunrisers players — Williamson, Rashid and Siddarth Kaul were featured in the CricBuzz Team XI of 2018 IPL. Both Williamson and Rashid were also featured in the ESPNcricinfo IPL team of the season.
The 2018 season performances helped the IPL see its brand value jump by 19% to the estimated value of US$6.3 billion. The Sunrisers also saw the increase in their brand value which was estimated to be US$70 million in 2018, according to Duff & Phelps.
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