Sun Risers to represent Hyderabad in IPL

The Hyderabad Indian Premier League team, formerly the Deccan Chargers, will be known as the Sun Risers from the 2013 season of the tournament, said Sun TV Network, the new owners of the franchise.

The Kalanithi Maran-owned group made the announcement in Chennai on Tuesday (December 18). The official unveiling of the logo will be done in Hyderabad on Thursday (December 20).

The Sun TV Network won the bid for the Hyderabad franchise at a price of Rs 85.05 crores (850.5 million) per year for the next five years, significantly higher than the second highest bid of 69.02 crores from PVP Ventures.

The new franchise thus becomes the second most expensive team in the IPL after Pune Warriors India (Rs 702 crores for seven years) and the third most expensive in IPL history behind the Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala (Rs 1522.32 crores for seven years), the terminated franchise.

Deccan Chargers, winners of IPL 2009, ran into trouble with the BCCI after defaulting several payments, both to the board and players. The new management chose to retain all the players who were signed by the previous owners, for the upcoming season.

The auction of players ahead of the 2013 season is likely to be held in the first week of January. Many Pakistani players, missing from the league since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, could also be up for grabs in the auction which is likely to be held in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab decided to pay a penalty of Rs. 1 crore to and bury their differences with the BCCI, after they had dragged the board to the court for arbitration proceedings following the termination their contract for alleged breach of regulations.