IPL 2024: Top players to represent both Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings - In Pics

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Now captain of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), KL Rahul has had a couple of stints at both SRH and PBKS. After starting his career at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he moved to SRH at the start of 2014-15. At that time, he used to play mostly as a middle-order batter. It’s a role that he doesn’t like anymore despite there being many calls for him to demote himself in the LSG in order to have a better chance of making it to the national T20 set-up.

Although he played a couple of good knocks for SRH, Rahul’s overall record of 308 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 106.2 was underwhelming. From there, he moved back to RCB where he had immense success as an opener before the team let him go in 2018.

PBKS signed him at the auction and in just three years between 2018-2021, Rahul became their highest run-scorer in the competition with 2548 runs at an average of 56.62. PBKS also tried him as their captain for a couple of years until LSG signed him in 2022.

The English opener’s IPL career started in Hyderabad and between 2019-21, he scored 1038 runs for them at an average of 41.52, striking at 142.19. He’s still their fifth-highest run-getter in the tournament.

Bairstow was released in 2022 and his time at PBKS hasn’t gone quite well so far. In 15 matches here, the wicketkeeper-batter has managed just 334 runs at 22.26 and is now struggling to retain his place in the 11 for the rest of the IPL 2024.

LSG vice-captain Nicholas Pooran has played for a number of teams in the IPL. He represented PBKS between 2019-21 and SRH for one year after that.

Neither stints brought the best out of him, at least at a level that LSG have been able to get, but he played a few good knocks in Punjab and Hyderabad.

At PBKS, he scored over 350 runs at his IPL-best strike rate of 169.71 in 2021 but his number plummeted the next year — 85 runs in 12 matches at 7.73 — and the franchise released him. At SRH, he collected 306 runs at 38.25 and a strike rate of 144.34 but the Orange Army, too, decided they didn’t need him anymore and released him in 2023.

Not many remember South Africa’s Aiden Markram had a stint at PBKS. In fact, his IPL career began in Punjab when the franchise signed him as a replacement for England’s Dawid Malan in 2021. Markram only played six matches here, though, scoring 146 runs at an average of 29.20 and a strike rate of 122.69 before being released in 2022.

His following three years have been spent in Hyderabad and his stats have gone up too. In 31 innings, he has scored 756 runs at an average of 34.36. He even captained the franchise in 2023 but had a poor season and Pat Cummins replaced him at the helm in 2024.