2012 Founding & Sri Venkateswara Group Ownership

Lore & Background

Before 2012, Hyderabad was a city that hosted IPL matches but never truly owned one. The Sri Venkateswara Group stepped in with a clear mandate: build a franchise that looked, sounded, and played like Telangana. The orange-and-black identity was chosen deliberately—bold, warm, unapologetically local. The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, already a landmark in Uppal, became the natural cathedral for the new side.

The founding auction and early squad-building were exercises in conviction over caution. The Group did not want a collection of safe, mid-tier imports; they wanted a team that would make a packed stadium feel like it was going to burst. That philosophy—attack first, defend second—became the unwritten rule of the dressing room from day one. Even in the rough early seasons, when results were inconsistent, the identity held: play big, play loud, play for the crowd.

By the time the 2016 title run arrived, the 2012 founding was no longer just a business deal. It was a promise kept. The Sri Venkateswara Group had given a city a team, and the team had given the city a reason to cheer in a way it never had before. The sun, as the name promised, had finally risen.

In Their Own Story

The stadium lights hummed to life over Uppal on a humid April evening, and the roar hit you before the first ball was bowled. Eighteen thousand voices in orange and black, a sea of flags snapping in the night air. The new Sunrisers walked out to a sound that felt less like a stadium and more like a festival. The Sri Venkateswara Group's people stood in the corporate box, quiet, watching their city adopt a team in real time. A young local pacer, barely twenty, gripped the ball and felt the weight of a whole franchise's first season settle into his fingers. He did not need a speech. He just needed to bowl. And for one long, electric night, Hyderabad belonged to itself.

Reader's Guide

2012: The Year Hyderabad Got Its Sun

Picture it: the IPL is already a juggernaut, but Telangana has no team of its own. The Sri Venkateswara Group, a local conglomerate, makes the call to build one. The franchise is announced, the orange-and-black kit is unveiled, and the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is named the home. It is not a quiet, corporate launch. It is a declaration. Hyderabad gets a sun.

The first auction is the turning point. The Group's philosophy is clear: do not build a safe team. Build a loud one. The squad that emerges is a mix of established stars and hungry young talent, all bound by a single instruction—play attacking cricket, play for the crowd. The 2013 debut season is rough, as all first seasons are. Results wobble. But the identity does not. The fans, packed into the Uppal stands every single night, refuse to let the team settle into anonymity.

By the end of that first year, something had shifted. The Sunrisers were no longer a new entry in a league table. They were a city's heartbeat. The 2012 founding did not just create a franchise; it created a belonging. Every season after—every high, every low—would be measured against that first, electric, uncertain night when Hyderabad finally had a team that looked like it, sounded like it, and bled like it. The sun had risen, and the city would not let it go.

Did You Know?

• The Sri Venkateswara Group is a Hyderabad-based conglomerate, making SRH one of the few IPL franchises owned by a business house from the very city it represents.
• The team's orange-and-black colour scheme was chosen to evoke the sunrise over Hyderabad, tying the 'Sunrisers' name to a visual identity fans could wear on every matchday.
• The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal had already hosted international cricket before SRH's arrival, giving the new franchise an instantly iconic home from its first season in 2013.
• The 2012 founding placed SRH in a league where every other franchise already had at least one season of IPL history behind it, making the 2013 debut a true underdog story from day one.