IPL 2026: ‘Who’ll bowl the 20 overs? – Kris Srikkanth slams SRH over auction approach

Former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has opined that Sunrisers Hyderabad did not focus on covering their bowling deficiencies from last season at the IPL 2026 auction. The 2016 winners had 10 slots to fill after Mohammed Shami was traded to Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the auction.

Srikkanth questioned the SRH management for not finding a like-for-like replacement for the Indian pacer and going after players like Liam Livingstone for a high price.  

“Everyone let go of Livingstone at base price. If you had already decided to go for him, you could have pocketed him for 2 crore itself. Their batting lineup is great, but who’ll bowl the 20 overs? Do SRH really need a player like Livingstone? They let go of Shami. Who’s the replacement for Shami?,” shared Srikkanth in a video on his YouTube channel.

The 65-year-old reckoned that SRH disappointed in IPL 2025 despite having a good side on paper, expressing worry over how the upcoming season would pan out for them.

They could have planned it better, but they already had a good side. Yet, we all say ‘good side’, but they didn’t qualify last year. They were down in the dumps like CSK last year,” he added.

SRH picked Shivang Kumar (INR 30 lakh), Sakib Hussain (INR 30 lakh), Onkar Tarmale (INR 30 lakh), Amit Kumar (INR 30 lakh), Praful Hinge (INR 30 lakh), Krains Fuletra (INR 30 lakh), Shivam Mavi (INR 75 lakh), Salil Arora (INR 1.5 crore), Jack Edwards (INR 3 crore) and Livingstone (INR 13 crore).

After emerging as runners-up in 2024, the Men in Orange did not have the best of times in IPL 2025 as they ended sixth in the points tally with only six wins in 14 matches. They could not make it to the playoffs despite winning three matches on the trot.

SRH’s final squad for IPL 2026

Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, R Smaran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari, Shivang Kumar, Sakib Hussain, Salil Arora, Onkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Jack Edwards