Former India player Aakash Chopra has said that the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) have benefited more from their trade deal with the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the IPL 2027 auction as well. He also added that the SRH franchise has acquired a relatively experienced seamer in T Natarajan, especially considering the doubts over Pat Cummins’ availability for the upcoming season of the IPL as well. DC, who had acquired Natarajan for ₹10.75 crore, traded him to SRH for ₹5 crore. In return, they got Zeeshan Ansari from the IPL 2016 champions for ₹40 lakh as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “I feel Hyderabad. T Natarajan, of course, the last year wasn’t good, and I get that he is very expensive, but he has an upside. He has played for India, and he does very well when he starts delivering the yorker. He has been fighting injuries, but there is an upside to him. Hyderabad is very happy. They are saying they play Shivang Kumar or play without a spinner. They are saying, ‘We are absolutely fine.'”
“They wouldn’t have batted an eyelid while letting Zeeshan go, and they would have immediately asked for T Natarajan. They have Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, but he (Natarajan) is mighty, especially since who knows whether Pat Cummins will come or not after playing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and it’s a World Cup year. I think Hyderabad will be happier of the two,” he further added.
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However, Aakash Chopra also stated that the Delhi Capitals’ earlier trade deal with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) wasn’t to their advantage either as well.
“About the first trade, you would definitely ask this question that which team benefited more. Even after that trade, we had said Lucknow had benefited more because of Kuldeep Yadav going to them. How many spinners bowl like Kuldeep? One is Axar Patel, who is in the same team, and then Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, and Yuzvendra Chahal. The list almost ends there. Maybe Ravi Bishnoi. That’s it,” he said.
“You have very limited options available, and you have let one of those go. Lucknow were looking for a spinner for a very long time. Considering the massive ground and that team’s requirement, I think Lucknow were better off because they wanted someone who they couldn’t have got in the auction,” Chopra shared.
“They took Rishabh Pant, but the question was whether they have a vacant place for him. You already had a keeper-batter in KL Rahul. Can you make Rishabh Pant bat at the top of the order? You have already refused to do that, and you don’t have a place either. It wasn’t such dire straits in the middle order that what would have happened to this team if Rishabh Pant hadn’t been there,” he concluded.
