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Sunrisers Hyderabad have the likes of Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma in their batting order and have added Ishan Kishan for the next season.
SRH batters were in red-hot form during IPL 2204. (PTI Photo)
Aakash Chopra feels Sunrisers Hyderabad’s star-studded batting line-up for IPL 2025 is one of their biggest strengths. Apart from skipper Pat Cummins, the 2016 winners retained Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy ahead of the mega auction last month.
During the auction, they added Ishan Kishan to their squad for a fee of Rs 11.25 crore to bolster their batting.
Speaking about their explosive line-up, Aakash says SRH would preferably continue their aggressive template with the bat like last season.
“Their first visible strength is that they will start hitting and keep hitting. They won’t stop at all,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra suggested SRH have found the optimal balance in their middle order.
“Previously, Rahul Tripathi or Mayank Agarwal used to be a question mark in the middle earlier, but now they are saying there is no question at all. The first three are left-handers and do the right job,” he said.
“All three – Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan – are mighty stroke makers. If they are your top three, followed by Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhinav Manohar, one can see a lot of batting depth. They can continue the template that stunned everyone last year,” he added.
SRH’s batting unit put up quite a show during IPL 2024.
They surpassed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) tally of 263/5 to break the record for the highest innings total in IPL history. SRH racked up 277/3 against the five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians in front of their home crowd in Hyderabad.
Weeks later, SRH broke their own record, this time against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium when they scored 287 runs.
Travis Head was awarded the Player of the Match for his 41-ball 102. SRH put up another red-hot show five days later against the Delhi Capitals, scoring 266 runs.
The aggressive batting performances saw SRH sprint into the IPL 2024 final. Despite the dominance with the bat, the Pat Cummins-led side couldn’t get past Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in the title clash.
KKR won the final by eight wickets to become champions.
