The 18th Edition of Indian Premier League is just about to begin and we will be discussing about the 10 teams, their strengths and their weaknesses using a data-driven approach through this blog. We will start with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad as a Franchise has seen everything in the last decade. May it be the 2016 Title victory by defeating inform star-studded RCB in the final at Chinnaswamy under David Warner, be it the dream run of 2018 right upto the finals in the absence of their regular captain David Warner under Kane Williamson or the 5 consecutive playoff qualifications between 2016-2020. In these years SRH created a solid fanbase for themselves and tasted glory. This success was hugely attributed to their world-class bowling attack consisting of bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Mustafizur Rahman, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma being the top performers along with crucial support from others. But this franchise also witnessed a huge downfall between 2021-2023 with stars like Warner and Rashid leaving the franchise on a bitter note and multiple changes in the leadership, squad and coaching staff. The team looked clueless and directionless in this period. But, then came 2024 when the Hyderabad-based Franchise rose from the Ashes under the leadership of Pat Cummins & had a dream run where they entertained every cricket fan with their attacking and fearless brand of cricket before loosing to the eventual winners Kolkata Knight Riders. Players like Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan along with the leader Pat Cummins played a crucial role in this dream run and impressed every cricket fan. Will they be able to replicate the same in 2025? Let's find out.
We will do a phase-wise analysis of batting and bowling of SRH 2025 squad members for the last 3 seasons of IPL and find out the strengths and weaknesses of SRH.
Squad:
Ideal Playing 11:
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen(wk), Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby/Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins(c), Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar
Impact Player: Brydon Carse/Adam Zampa
Batting
The main reason behind the exceptional 2024 season of SRH was the explosive batting unit consisting of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klassen and Nitish Kumar Reddy & well-supported by Rahul Tripathi, Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmed. This batting unit set the tournament on fire & broke the long-standing record of highest team total 263 set by RCB in 2013 twice while scoring 278 vs Mumbai Indians and 287 vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru. SRH also crossed the 263 mark against Delhi Capitals while scoring 266 against them at Kotla. SRH crossed 200-run mark 6 times out of the 16 innings they batted in 2024 which was the joint-most along with RCB and KKR. They managed to retain the batting core of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klassen and Nitish Kumar Reddy ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction and added the likes of Abhinav Manohar, Ishan Kishan and Sachin Baby in the squad. Now let's analyze the phase-wise performance of the SRH batting lineup in the last 3 seasons of IPL.
Powerplay(1-6)
Scatter Plot for Powerplay Batting Performance
Travis Head-Abhishek Sharma pair is the most explosive the opening pair in 2025 IPL. This combo broke many Powerplay Batting Records in IPL 2024 including fastest chase(167/0 in 9.4 overs vs LSG) and highest Powerplay Score(125 vs DC). Ishan Kishan who is most likely to be slotted at number 3 can also attack in the Powerplay. As shown in the above scatter plot, Travis Head is the obvious outlier as a Powerplay Batter with him being the only player to score more than 400 runs in the powerplay and at a strike rate of more than 200. Only Jake Fraser-McGurk has a higher strike rate then him in this phase while scoring 136 runs less than him. 13 Players have scored more runs than Travis Head in this phase from IPL 2022 to IPL 2024 but none of them have a better strike rate than him in the Powerplay. The most astonishing fact is Travis Head has played only the 2024 season of IPL and didn't play in 2022 and 2023 still he is the 14th highest run-getter in Powerplay with the highest strike-rate. This shows the explosiveness he brings to the table as an opener. He will be supported by his partner in crime Abhishek Sharma who is the 9th highest run-getter in this phase in the last 3 seasons and has the 4th highest strike-rate among all the batters scoring more than 400 runs in the Powerplay with only Travis Head, Phil Salt and Yashasvi Jaiswal being ahead of him on the basis of Powerplay strike-rate according to this criteria. Abhishek's Powerplay batting peaked in 2024 IPL as he was striking above 200 in this season while scoring 343 runs. Then, SRH have Ishan Kishan at number 3 who can also attack in the Powerplay. He has better Powerplay Strike-rate than the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jos Buttler, Shubhman Gill, Quinton Decock and Rohit Sharma who are considered as one of the finest openers in the league.
Ishan vs Abhishek vs Head(Powerplay Batting Performance IPL 2022-2024)
From these stats, we can easily say that SRH are sorted for the powerplay and they have a top-order who can attack from the 1st ball and set the tone for the innings in an aggressive manner.
Middle Overs(7-15)
After the explosive top-order, they have Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen coming in at No.4 and No.5 respectively. Reddy was the find of previous season and went on to represent India in T20is as well as Test Cricket and garnered lot of love and respect from the fans as well as cricket pundits for his performance. Reddy is the perfect No.4 for SRH as he can attack while building a partnership and can also play a second fiddle whenever required. The 2 50s he scored last season: one against PBKS at Mullanpur and one against RR at Hyderabad prove that he has the class and temperament required to be a No.4 batter in an explosive batting unit like SRH. Heinrich Klassen on the other hand is a spin-monster and among the Top 3 T20 Players in the world along with Nicholas Pooran and Suryakumar Yadav since 2022 as these 3 have consistently dominated Franchise Cricket as well as T20is with the bat. Nitish and Klassen will be following the explosive top-order thus making SRH the best batting line-up in the entire league.
SRH Batters performance in Middle Overs(IPL 2022-2024)
The above stats prove that Abhishek and Travis can continue attacking in the middle overs as well after getting good start in the Powerplay. Nitish and Klassen are attacking batters as well. Ishan Kishan's strike-rate is on the lower side in the last 3 seasons of IPL but I feel that with so many attacking batters around him, he will have less pressure and will perform well with the bat.
So, we can say that SRH's batting in the middle-overs is also sorted.
Death Overs(16-20)
SRH then have Abhinav Manohar, coming in at No.6 and he has shown a lot of promise as a finisher during his stint with Gujarat Titans. Heinrich Klassen is an excellent pace-hitter as well along with being a spin monster. He strikes above 200 in the death overs in the last 2 seasons of IPL. Pat Cummins who is slotted to be the No.8 can also play cameos. The only concern for SRH is the No.7. None of the Indian Finishers recruited in the squad except Abhishek, Reddy and Manohar have enough IPL experience. Sachin Baby last played IPL in 2021 and before that in 2017.
SRH Batters Death-over batting performance(IPL 2022-2024)
By seeing these stats, we can say that SRH have enough fire-power in the death and therefore they have the best batting lineup in IPL 2025.
Bowling
SRH's bowling unit was not that great in the last season as they had a very mediocre spin-attack of Shahbaz Ahmed and Mayank Markande. They had Vijayakanth Viyaskanth who did not look ready for the IPL level yet. Though they had a good pace attack consisting of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins and T Natarajan with Jaydev Unadkat being the support pacer. This time they don't have Bhuvi and Natarajan but they have replaced them with Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel respectively. Also they have strengthened their spin-department by replacing Vijayakanth and Markande with Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar respectively. They have also released Shahbaz Ahmed. They have also added the British Fast Bowler Brydon Carse in their pace-bowling department while also buying back Jaydev Unadkat as a backup pacer. Let's see how this bowling unit looks phase-wise and how these bowlers have performed statistically in the last 3 years.
Powerplay(1-6)
SRH replaced Bhuvi with Mohammed Shami and it is as perfect a replacement it can be. Shami is the 2nd highest wicket-taker in IPL with the new-ball between 2022 to 2024 despite missing the 2024 season because of injury. Bhuvi is the 3rd highest wicket-taker in the same phase during the same time period while playing 3 seasons and having higher economy than Shami. The person sharing the new ball with Shami should be Pat Cummins as he is the 2nd most experienced pacer in the entire squad and can swing the ball in the powerplay, though he has an economy of 9.50 in this phase but this includes the 2022 season as well where he was not consistent. He is a much-improved T20 bowler now and should be the one to share the new-ball with Mohammed Shami. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhishek Sharma should be given an over or 2 in the Powerplay depending on the matchups.
Middle Overs(7-15)
The middle-overs bowling of SRH is very strong and has a lot of variety for different types of pitches. On pitches like Chinnaswamy, Wankhede, Eden and Motera, SRH should play Brydon Carse as the 4th pacer as his hit-the-deck bowling will be very useful on these pitches. While on slower pitches like Chepauk, Jaipur and Ekana Adam Zampa should be played instead of Carse as his leg-spin will be more important on these slow-tracks. The 4th overseas option for SRH will be dependent on pitch and they should follow the horses for courses approach for it. Whenever Zampa plays, SRH middle-overs bowling plan will be to share 9 overs between Zampa, Chahar, Harshal and Cummins along with one of Abhishek or Reddy bowling an over or 2 as per match-ups. Rahul Chahar has picked up 21 wickets in this phase in the last 3 seasons which is more than the likes of Krunal Pandya and Harpreet Brar. He has an economy of 7.87 in this phase which is less than the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana. Zampa hasn't played much IPL recently but he was one of the main reasons for Australia winning 2 ICC titles in Asia in last 3 years & I feel that he will do well in IPL as well this season if used properly. Harshal Patel is the joint-highest wicket-taker in this phase in the last 3 seasons along with Andre Russel while having better economy than him. He can be useful on the Hyderabad pitch with his deceiving slower-ones. Pat Cummins has 12 wickets in this phase at an economy of 7.59 and has bowled better than the likes of Rabada, Boult, Ferguson and Pathirana in this phase. So, Pat must try to bowl 1 or 2 overs in this phase. While Brydon Carse might not have excellent T20 numbers but he was impressive in the recently concluded T20i series between India and England & impressed everyone with his hit-the deck bowling. So, we can say that SRH have assembled a bowling attack which provides them a lot of options and depth.
Death Overs(16-20)
As we can see in the above scatter plot, Harshal Patel and T Natarajan are the Top-2 wicket-takers in death-overs in the last 3 seasons of IPL. The latter was with SRH in last 3 seasons while the former was bought by SRH in the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. On the basis of raw stats, Harshal looks better than Natarajan but breaking down the stats year-wise shows a different story.
The above comparison chart compares the year-wise death-bowling performance of Harshal Patel and T Natarajn, while Harshal emerged as a better wicket-taking option, Natarajan was consistently improving himself and was the leading wicket-taker for SRH last season. But still Harshal Patel is a good replacement for T Natarajan and can be the No.1 Death Bowler for SRH. His slowish cutters will be very useful at Uppal where SRH will play 7 games, thus making him a reliable option for death bowling.
Harshal will be supported by Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami and Rahul Chahar as they all can bowl 1 over each in the death with Harshal bowling 2 overs.
Overall, SRH have depth and variety in the bowling unit across all the phases of the game and for different conditions.
Strengths:
1. Explosive Batting Unit: SRH have the best Top-6 in the entire league which can play with an attacking mindset from Ball-1 and justify the Franchise's tagline of #PlayWithFire. Even if both the openers depart in the Powerplay, SRH still have players to attack and score 200+ consistently.
2. Varietal Bowling Attack: SRH have bowling attack consisting of different kind of bowlers. May it be quality new-ball bowler like Mohammed Shami. Leggies like Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar, Deceiving Bowler like Harshal Patel, Middle-over enforcers like Pat Cummins and Brydon Carse or a support pacer like Jaydev Unadkat. SRH can adopt the horses for courses approach and maximize the potential of this bowling line-up. Though sometimes the bowling attack can be taken to cleaners but still this bowling unit is good enough to complement the fiery batting lineup assembled by SRH.
Concerns:
1. No-7 Batter/All-rounder: Among the Indian Batters in the SRH squad, barring Abhishek, Reddy and Manohar, noone has played IPL in recent years. This is not a major concern but the inexperience at this position might hurt SRH in case of a batting collapse.
2. Fitness issues of Shami and Cummins: Cummins is currently injured and is ruled out of the Champions Trophy. Shami has recently made a comeback to International Cricket after a long injury break and is trying to find his rhythm. These 2 bowlers are the backbone of SRH pace-unit and if they are not fully fit during the IPL, SRH might find themselves in trouble in the bowling front.
Home Ground: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad(Uppal)
Uppal was the flattest wicket in IPL 2024 with the 200 run mark being breached in 7 out of 12 completed innings and the SRH vs MI encounter saw 523 runs being scored across 40 overs. In the SRH vs LSG game, the Travis Head - Abhishek Sharma duo took the LSG bowling unit for cleaners and chased down 167 runs in just 9.4 overs which is a record-breaking chase. It had bit of help for bowlers bowling good cutters and slower ones as well. The conditions this time around will also be the same to suit the approach of SRH. At home games, Adam Zampa can be preferred over Brydon Carse as the ball grips at Uppal. However, in initial games Brydon Carse can also be given a go as the pitch will be fresh in initial games and might not grip much, especially in the night games.
Combination for away games:
The SRH batting unit is destructive at any given venue and against any opposition. The only venues where the batting unit underperformed in 2024 were Chepauk and Motera. But, the batting lienup doesn't require changes unless an injury or a batter being terribly out of form. On the bowling front, Zampa must be picked at Kotla and Chepauk, while for pitches like Motera, Wankhede, Eden, Dharamshala and Chinnaswamy Brydon Carse is the obvious choice because of his pace and bounce.
Except these tactical tweaks, the team doesn't require even a single change.
Conclusion: SRH still have the batting fire-power of the last season along with an improved bowling unit. In my opinion, they are the best team in IPL 2025 and anything less than being the Runner's up will be considered as an under-performance.
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