The IPL 2012 did not prove good for the Hyderabad franchise as they won only four matches out of 16 and finished second from bottom. Their bowling in bite and apart from Dale Steyn, who picked up 18 wickets at an economy of 6.10, no other bowler left a mark. Their batting was led by Shikhar Dhawan (569 runs at a strike-rate of 129.61) and Craig White (479 runs at a strike-rate of 149.68). They both cracked five half-centuries each and Dhawan finished as the third highest run-getter Chris Gayle and Gautam Gambhir. Twice in the tournament, however, Deccan lost matches after scoring in excess of 190.The team has been dealt a blow, however, in the news from the BCCI that Dhawan faces a four to six-week lay-off after fracturing a finger on Test debut against Australia -match in which he thumped an explosive 187. He had a fantastic IPL 5 and remains the fulcrum of Sunrisers' batting. In Dhawan's absence, Parthiv Patel is most likely to open the innings with Sangakkara and White batting in the middle order. Hyderabad lack a couple of batsmen who could hold the innings in case the top order crumbles. Hanuma Vihari and Akshath Reddy will have to step up and make useful contributions. With South African allrounder JP Duminy ruled out of IPL 6 Hyderabad have lost a big-hitter capable of taking advantage of the last few overs of an innings.This year the franchise bought a few quality overseas players in the auction - Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Clint McKay and Quinton de Kock - but the lack of enterprising domestic Indian players is their bane. They already had overseas cricketers like Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy, Steyn and White in their squad, and it will be an uphill task for them to pick just four overseas players in the playing XI.
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