Deepak Hooda

The arrival

Deepak Hooda's first IPL season was 2015, with Rajasthan Royals, a signing made outside the auction.

That first season brought 14 matches, 151 runs and 1 wicket at 8.51 an over.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2022, for Lucknow Super Giants: 451 runs at an average of 32.2, striking at 136.7 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 134.2, with 4 fifties, and a highest score of 59.

Measured against the league around it, though, the most destructive season was 2015: 151 runs at a strike rate of 158.9, 27 runs per hundred balls quicker than the IPL as a whole that year.

With the ball, the best season was 2016, for Sunrisers Hyderabad: 3 wickets at 7.46 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 8.15, with best figures of 2 for 16. Sunrisers Hyderabad won the title that year.

Franchise by franchise

2015, Rajasthan Royals. 14 matches, 151 runs and 1 wicket.

2016 to 2019, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bought at the 2016 auction for ₹4.20 cr. 47 matches, 373 runs and 6 wickets; champions in 2016.

2020 to 2021, Kings XI Punjab. Bought at the 2020 auction for ₹50 lakh. 19 matches, 262 runs and 2 wickets.

2022 to 2024, Lucknow Super Giants. Bought at the 2022 auction for ₹5.75 cr. 38 matches, 680 runs and 1 wicket.

2025, Chennai Super Kings. Bought at the 2025 auction for ₹1.70 cr. 7 matches and 31 runs.

5 spells with five franchises in all. The longest was with Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2016 to 2019.

Bat, ball and method

Across the career, Deepak Hooda struck at 127.6. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 135.8, so Deepak Hooda scored about 8 runs per hundred balls slower than the typical batter of the time, a trade usually made for longer innings. 51% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 98 fours and 62 sixes.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 33% of the balls Deepak Hooda faced were dot balls, a lower share than 80% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 18.9 balls, and a four every 12.

With the ball, 10 wickets in 379 deliveries, at 8.64 runs an over against a league rate of 8.22 for the same seasons: 0.43 an over more expensive than the typical bowler of the time.

The fielding record: 59 catches and 4 run-outs.

At the auction

Deepak Hooda went under the hammer seven times, bought six times and left unsold once. The highest price was ₹5.75 cr, paid by Lucknow Super Giants in 2022, more than 7 times the base price. The price climbed with the reputation: ₹40 lakh in 2014, ₹1.70 cr by 2025. Being bought did not always mean playing: no match followed for Rajasthan Royals in 2014.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

The legacy

Deepak Hooda made 125 IPL appearances, the last for Chennai Super Kings in 2025, and won 1 player-of-the-match award.