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Sunrisers Hyderabad finished runners-up last season but are currently languishing in the bottom half of the IPL 2025.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have won just two matches in eight games so far. (PTI Photo)
Sunrisers Hyderabad were the team to beat last IPL thanks to the red-hot form of their opening batters Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head. They broke the record for the highest team total during the season and chased down targets with surreal ease. The presence of a power hitter in Heinrich Klaasen in the middle order, the arrival of Nitish Kumar Reddy and the leadership of all-conquering Pat Cummins made them a formidable opponent.
They were second behind Kolkata Knight Riders in the points table and later finished as the runners-up. A lot was expected from SRH this season with predictions of them potentially breaching the 300-run mark. However, they’ve looked a pale shadow of themselves from IPL 2024.
After eight games, they have managed just two victories and tasted defeat in six with their chances of playoffs denting after each defeat. Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron compared SRH’s aggressive batting with England’s Bazball style of play.
“They (SRH) can’t second-guess themselves now. When we talk about Bazball, or the style of cricket SRH is playing, it’s given them results last year. They came back last year after being eighth and tenth the previous two years to play in the finals last year. So that has given them results. It’s not worked out this year,” Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo.
Aaron then added that several of SRH cricketers had their best IPL season last year and have failed to replicate in the ongoing competition.
“But again, if you see last year, the guys who performed for them: Abhishek Sharma had a blitz out of nowhere, previous to that his record wasn’t the best; Travis Head again didn’t have the best record in the IPL; Pat Cummins, up until then, didn’t have a great IPL ever. So a lot of the guys last year had their best IPLs. So coming back from your best IPL and trying to replicate that can never be easy. So people must be mindful of that,” he said.
“And obviously they have had their best IPL with a lot of players playing a certain way. They wanted to bring that same kind of pattern this year and it hasn’t worked out. But they can’t second-guess themselves at this point,” he added.
