In the ever-changing world of T20 cricket, stagnation can prove suicidal.
When Sunrisers Hyderabad unveiled a new batting template last season, creating milestone after milestone en route a runner-up finish, it widened the horizons for not just franchise cricket but also the international game.
SRH’s approach in the PowerPlay, in particular, was peak T20 batting on overdrive. It forced analysts to continuously recalculate what the ideal par score was.
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Led by the imperious ‘Travishek’ (the opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma), Sunrisers‘ batting might allowed it the cushion of sticking to its tactics. In fact, the franchise doubled down on firepower up top with the acquisition of Ishan Kishan in the auction last year.
During a meet-and-greet with fans ahead of the season, skipper Pat Cummins was seen signing three to the crowd – a nod to the IPL’s obsession with the mythical 300-run total and SRH’s gun batting order that looked all set to scale that peak. After all, the Men in Orange had exceeded expectations, posting four of the five highest totals in IPL history in their last 16 innings.
“Expectations bring some excitement,” SRH head coach Daniel Vettori had confidently said ahead of the 2025 campaign.
“Whatever ground we go to, we have an understanding that the batting team is going to be aggressive,” he had added.
Barely a month later, Vettori and Sunrisers have been forced to sing a different tune.
Change in approach
There is supreme confidence in laying all your cards on the table, but there is a striking vulnerability too. Opponents armed with tons and tons of data, and the Hyderabad outfit following the same script, has contributed to a stutter and a slip to the bottom of the table.
In its season-opener against Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad, Sunrisers went berserk. Travishek returned to action with aplomb, aided by a wayward bowling show from its opponent, reinforcing the home team’s strength.
The on-the-money ball for pacers in Hyderabad last year was the yorker, which yielded a scoring rate of just 6.74. RR’s seamers went short with 39.56% of their deliveries and ended up being smacked for 14.66 runs per over. The score of 286 suggested that 300 was round the corner.
Lucknow Super Giants did what the Royals couldn’t, proving that it was a false dawn for Sunrisers. Pant’s bowlers went sharper and fuller, holding back a confident SRH, which went out looking for the 300, to a total below 200.
Super Giants’ attack used the yorker from the get-go and with much success, most notably Prince
Yadav’s dismissal of Head when he sent the Australian’s stumps flying. The Lucknow franchise gave other teams copious notes to follow.
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Plan A or bust
For Sunrisers, the PowerPlay, which had characterised the team, had been child’s play. Their pyrotechnics put fear in opponents and often left no time for bowlers to tweak their plans.
SRH’s average run rate in that phase was 11, during which the side smashed 67 sixes (from IPL 2024 its group-stage encounter against Gujarat Titans in 2025). Both these marks remain the highest in the league during this phase.
The fearlessness has, however, come at a cost. SRH has also lost wickets in the first six overs at a much faster rate than any other franchise — 39 wickets in 20 innings, the most. In fact, since last season, Sunrisers have lost three or more wickets in the PowerPlay eight times.
In the merry run during the leap year, the Travishek phenomenon powered SRH in its quest to obliterate everything in sight. Registering 125 runs without losing a wicket in the PowerPlay (against Delhi Capitals), for example, can make life easy for the batters in the dugout and miserable for the opposition bowlers.
However, when the two have failed to set the tone, the team has fallen like a house of cards. A pair that dealt in the 100s as far as partnerships went has managed a best of just 45 this year (vs Royals). The duo only managed 15 (LSG), 11 (DC), 4 (Kolkata Knight Riders) and 9 (GT).
Vettori and the rest of the SRH staff have doggedly defended the uber-aggressive, all-or-nothing approach.
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“If you look at the course of the 18 IPL seasons, there have been very few teams that haven’t lost two games in a row,” he said after SRH’s defeat to DC in Visakhapatnam. “Particularly early in the season when teams are learning their combinations after a big auction. We don’t want to be in this position, like any team, but we understand every time we play, we come up against a very good team, well-planned sides and highly talented players. There’s no reason why we can’t just turn up and win, we’ve got to perform… That’s the challenge for us after a very good first performance and continue in the style we like. How we challenge ourselves to do it consistently [is important].”
Cracks in the bowling mirror
Before the season, Vettori suggested that SRH would continue to build on its batting prowess, which would then make the bowling unit’s life much easier.
“That’s what Pat [Cummins] addressed the bowling group the other day. He said the expectation is on the batters to do all the work, score the runs and the bowlers can sort of feed into that,” he explained.
It’s a statement well worth a debate. While the fireworks of the 2024 season afforded the bowling unit some immunity, SRH’s current batting implosions have left the other wing exposed.
While stacked with formidable international stars and a solid attack on paper, SRH’s bowling has not delivered. The inconsistency has often pushed bowlers into a shell when they were getting clobbered.
SRH has conceded runs at 10.73 per over so far, the most by a team this season, and has leaked at least 10 an over four times in five innings.
The side has come up short in managing a conservative economy rate and the all-important requirement to stifle runs in the middle overs. Sunrisers‘ bowlers have picked up 12 wickets in that period (overs 7 to 16) this season. In the league, their average (41.33) and economy (9.92) in this phase is the third worst.
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SRH’s attack, however, has long been an area of concern, sliding into the shadows due to the spotlight on the batters. Last season, it had the second-worst economy rate (after DC), and the worst average among all teams.
In Cummins, Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel, SRH has three proven success stories who, on their day, can make it difficult for the batters. It took the Australian three games to find a way to hit those hard, almost Test-esque lengths, to contain the runs.
A blind pursuit of wickets has so far not yielded the results it should have and has often left the pace pack going for more than 10 an over. The lack of a specialist spinner and adequate faith in its ability to get purchase from the surface has cost the side. It’s baffling why the tried-and-tested Adam Zampa is not getting a regular run.
With the batting failing and the bowlers bullied into submission, it is hardly surprising that Sunrisers‘ energy levels have dipped. The outfit has been uncharacteristically sloppy on the field.
“We just haven’t been near our best in any of the last four games. I hate to say it, but all three disciplines haven’t been able to click in a game. We’re just not performing the way we should be,” Vettori finally conceded after a seven-wicket thrashing at the hands of Titans.
Writing on the wall
The SRH of 2024 fashioned itself into a monster that loved building mountains that were hard to scale. But its chasing capabilities were nowhere as menacing, with sharp drops in comparative run rates and the number of sixes smashed.
On seemingly tough pitches, SRH has not been able to adapt. The maximums have become an obsession but what happens if one can’t achieve them? Footwork, timing, placement – SRH’s adept international batters suddenly blank out when it comes to looking back at the basics to keep the scoreboard ticking.
While the gameplan of outscoring opponents has fallen flat this season, the team has looked like a man trapped in an invisible revolving door. As far as adjusting to different decks and bowling tactics were concerned, Vettori admitted that the Hyderabad outfit has failed to get them right.
“We understand the ramifications of losing four in a row and how difficult it makes the season,” Vettori said. “We know the style that’s going to work, but we have to respect conditions and we have to assess really well. And that’s probably something we haven’t done as well. We also have to respect how well other teams are bowling.”
The franchise is now fuelled by a projection of what people want it to be rather than what it is — one whose style, now a stuff of legend, will bequeath only memories. This is its wake, one that’s being played out slowly and painfully.
Watching Sunrisers is now a spectacle with its own mismatched grace and power. And there is no change in sight.
“There are no conversations around changing our approach. We definitely want to play an aggressive brand,” Vettori emphasised despite the horrid run.
Live by the sword, die by it. Admirable? Full of folly? The table will tell the tale.
Published – April 10, 2025 12:43 am IST
