Deccan Chargers is the franchise that represents the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. From 2009, the team will be led by Adam Gilchrist and coached by Darren Lehmann, both former Australian Test cricketers. There is no Icon Player for the team, although V.V.S. Laxman rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds to purchase more stars for the team.
The Deccan Chargers franchise is owned by Deccan Chronicle. The media group acquired the franchise from IPL for $107 million on January 24, 2008. Group M later picked a 20% stake
2008 IPL Season
Despite the fact that the team was one of the favourites to win the inauguaral edition of the IPL, the team failed to reach the semi-finals. In addition, Andrew Symonds (Deccan's most expensive player) batted only 3 innings before leaving to play for the Australian national team, and team captain Laxman had his season ended by an injury after 6 games. Only 3 Deccan bowlers, R. P. Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Shahid Afridi, took more than 4 wickets in the competition. In this 14 match period, the team went winless at home and only managed 2 wins overall, one against the Mumbai Indians and one against the Chennai Super Kings. They finished at the bottom of the table.
Deccan Chargers Players
The franchise acquired players like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and Herschelle Gibbs. The main bowlers acquired by the franchise were R.P. Singh, Nuwan Zoysa and Chaminda Vaas. From 2009, the team will be captained by Adam Gilchrist who replaced the captain of the inaugural season, V.V.S. Laxman. In 2008, VVS Laxman was intended to be the Icon Player for the team but he relinquished his Icon Player Status and settled for a signing amount of $375,000, which allowed the team to bid for costly players and still remain under the salary cap.
A huge controversy has risen amidst the Deccan Chargers camp, as their ace player VVS Laxman has reportedly decided not to play for the team again. Laxman, a senior Indian batsman, is upset by the way the owners have overlooked his contributions and sacrifices and named Adam Gilchrist as the captain for the next season, without even informing him before-hand. People realized something was wrong when another star player Shahid Afridi accused VVS Laxman of his below-par performance and inability to lead on the field in the inaugural season. A temporary truce was resorted to, but the flames have reappeared soon. Later they have terminated the contract of Shahid Afridi and after team management have snapped their ties with him.
Deccan Chargers is the franchise that represents the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. From 2009, the team will be led by Adam Gilchrist and coached by Darren Lehmann, both former Australian Test cricketers. There is no Icon Player for the team, although V.V.S. Laxman rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds to purchase more stars for the team.
