Natarajan took 19 wickets in Sunrisers’ run to the 2024 final, and they have bought him back for less than half his Delhi fee

Sunrisers Hyderabad have brought T Natarajan home. The left-arm seamer is heading back to the franchise he played for from 2020 to 2024, in a trade with Delhi Capitals announced on Wednesday, 14 October, that sends leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari the other way ahead of IPL 2027.

The fee is less than half what it was. Delhi bought Natarajan for INR 10.75 crore at the 2025 auction. He returns to Hyderabad at a revised fee of INR 5 crore, a cut of INR 5.75 crore. Ansari moves to Delhi on his existing fee of INR 40 lakh.

Twelve games in two seasons

Natarajan’s Delhi stint never got going. He arrived for the 2025 season still carrying a shoulder problem and was held back for the first ten matches. When he did make his debut for Delhi, on 5 May 2025, it came against Sunrisers. He played two matches that season.

The 2026 season was busier but no kinder. He played ten matches and took five wickets, going at more than 11 an over. That made it 12 appearances and five wickets in two years for a bowler Delhi had paid INR 10.75 crore. There had been talk of a move before the 2026 season because of his fee, but Delhi kept him. This time they have let him go.

Why Hyderabad want him back

The memory Sunrisers are buying is 2024. Natarajan took 19 wickets that season, more than any other Sunrisers bowler, as the side reached the final, where they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders. He did his best work at the death that year, and the Hyderabad pitch usually favours the batters, so a left-armer who can close out an innings is worth having.

At INR 5 crore the risk is much smaller than it was for Delhi. If his body holds up, Sunrisers have a death specialist who knows the ground and the dressing room. If it does not, they have not tied up anything like the money Delhi did.

Ansari fills a Delhi gap

Delhi’s need for an Indian spinner goes back to June, when they traded Kuldeep Yadav to Lucknow Super Giants as part of the deal that brought Rishabh Pant back. Ansari, a leg-spinner from Uttar Pradesh, has six wickets from ten IPL matches, all of them for Sunrisers in 2025. He took 3 for 42 on his IPL debut, against Delhi in Visakhapatnam in March 2025.

His timing is good too. He took 4 for 40 in Bihar’s second innings this week as Uttar Pradesh won their Ranji Trophy opener by an innings and 267 runs.

Delhi have been busy since IPL 2026 ended. Sourav Ganguly took over as head coach on 6 October, and Yuvraj Singh joined as assistant and batting coach a week later. On the purse side, swapping an INR 10.75 crore contract for an INR 40 lakh one frees up INR 10.35 crore for Delhi to spend before the next auction.

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