What has changed in the latest cycle for Sunrisers Hyderabad?
In 2024, Sunrisers broke free from their free fall of mediocrity, something that very few teams can look back on with pride. After a bitter breakup with David Warner, SRH seemed aimless for two-thirds of the previous cycle as they looked for their next messiah. Pat Cummins helped SRH get back on their feet in the final cycle installment, when it was reasonable to assume that underperforming clubs would already be considering a makeover a year later. To turn around SRH’s mediocre performance, he arrived with fellow Australian Travis Head and a head coach (Daniel Vettori), with whom he previously had a working relationship.
Despite an ever-changing framework, SRH decided to defy batting conventions, bringing new concepts to the table. As they advanced to their first final since 2018, heads were still stunned and jaws dropped at how far they had come in maximizing batting PowerPlays and hitting for the fences. Finding a top-down, squad-wide playing style right before a huge auction, however, had the potential of being short-lived. However, SRH was able to retain their high-performing assets because of the agreement on the retention regulations, which included six players and no cap on overseas selections.
Since Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan, SRH spent a significant portion of their budget on replacing experience with expertise. More importantly, though, SRH enters the 2025 season with what may be the tournament’s most explosive top five. With Ishan Kishan joining the ranks and maybe raising it even higher, SRH has four of the five from the previous season continuing under the new retention rules. As they attempt to enter the new cycle with their previous behaviors, SRH may use “more of the same, but better” as their rallying cry.
Full Squad
Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat, Wiaan Mulder, Kamindu Mendis, Zeeshan Ansari, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Aniket Verma
The best XII as things stand
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby/Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar/Simarjeet Singh
Concerns about availability and injury
Wiaan Mulder, a South African with a similar trade, has already taken Brydon Carse’s place as SRH’s injured overseas seam bowling all-rounder. Cummins is healthy enough to captain the team from their opening match after missing the most recent Champions Trophy due to an ankle issue. After sustaining a side strain during the January T20I series against England, Nitish Reddy, SRH’s 2024 acquisition and their INR 6 crore retainer, has also recovered.
Ishan Kishan: Since the end of 2023, Kishan has strayed a bit, losing both his core contract for the 2023–24 season, which was revealed last February, and his berth for India in all three formats. He was also left off of the 2024 T20 World Cup winning squad, thus his decline down the hierarchy has been quick and severe. The road back up is tough, but he’s already on it after playing domestically for Jharkhand again. Given that head coach Gautam Gambhir is adamant about keeping left-right balance in the top order, a strong IPL season might propel him back into the selectors’ sights ahead of the home T20 World Cup the following year.
The franchise has long desired Kishan and SRH, but they are not a match made in auction dynamics despair. After pushing MI to the limit in 2022 and failing, they were able to sign him last year and now give him the opportunity to shine.
This season’s home ground stat to keep an eye on
At SRH’s home ground previous season, batsmen hammered the bowlers with a 9.99 scoring rate, which was only surpassed by Delhi’s 10.76. It appears that more of the same will be tried this year based on the impact player leeway and SRH’s hitting philosophy.
