Sunrisers have released their opener Martin Guptill, Shakib Al Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan ahead of IPL 2020 auction, the franchise announced on Friday. The rest of the player were retained by the franchise.

Guptill, New Zealand’s white-ball specialist, was bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 1 Crore ahead of IPL 2019. He only got his chances when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow left IPL to prepare for World Cup. In three matches, the right-handed batsman scored 81 runs with a strike-rate of 152.83.

Since SRH have a number of opening options, the franchise decided to release him. He is expected to be one of the tops picks at the auction. Also, considering that New Zealand’s players are available for the full league, he might on the radar of every franchise.

Yusuf had joined the team in IPL 2018 for Rs1.9 Crores. He played 25 matches during his two-stint with SRH in which he scored 300 runs off 245 balls.

SRH had retained Hooda at IPL 2018 auction for Rs 3.6 Crore by the use of Right to Match card. He did play 20 matches in these two seasons but did not get enough opportunities to perform. The franchise might buy him back but at a lower price, like they did in the case of Wriddhiman Saha last year.

Shakib is banned from the game for one year, hence, the franchise released him. The all-rounder will now only be back in IPL 2021.

The fifth and the final player released by SRH was Rick Bhui. The former India U-19 batsman has been part of the team since 2014. He finally made his debut in IPL 2018 but got only one match.

David Warner, Kane Williamson, Bairstow will continue to be the mainstays with the bat while Siddharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma will lead the pace attack.

It remains to be seen whether the team replaces its captain. Williamson has led SRH for two years now – he took over the job after warner missed IPL 2018. SRH will have Trevor Bayliss as their head coach.