SRH boom-or-bust strategy has caused them to collapse more frequently than not in the 2025 Indian Premier League, despite their promises to amuse and surpass the 300-run mark this season. They are now seated awkwardly at the bottom of the table after five games.
Their bowling attack, which has been among the weakest since the previous season, has also been exposed by the hitters’ lack of output; their shortcomings have frequently been concealed by the explosiveness of the batters and the large totals to defend. The Punjab Kings, who are fighting for a spot at the other end of the table, are up against SRH, who have two departments in need of improvement and a lineup that is still figuring out its best combination.
The conditions at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday night may be determined by the teams’ respective batting departments, which both possess the necessary firepower. However, as the previous game at the location demonstrated, results can be influenced by a lot more than just the playing surface.
For SRH, winning isn’t the only goal anymore; they also need to make up for the crushing losses they’ve sustained over the past three games, which have left them reeling from a depleted net run rate. The goal for Shreyas Iyer & Co. is much easier: maintain the momentum.
When: 7:30 PM IST on Saturday, April 12, 2025
Where: Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
What to expect: Unless SRH collapses again in their attempt to win large, consider the last game to be a little setback in an otherwise batting paradise, even though it wasn’t the run-fest we are used to in Hyderabad.
Head-to-head: Since 2022, SRH has won four of their last five games and leads PBKS by a comfortable 16–7. SRH has only lost one of their last nine games against PBKS at home in Hyderabad.
Team Observation
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Unavailability/Injuries: At this time, there are no injury concerns for the home team.
Strategies & Matchups: SRH’s wrist spinners have given up the most runs at 10.21 per over, more than any other team. Zeeshan Ansari took Adam Zampa’s place in the final three games after he played in the first two. After dismissing Glenn Maxwell twice, Marcus Stoinis twice, and Shreyas Iyer three times, Rahul Chahar is the reserve spinner with a strong head-to-head record against the PBKS middle order hitters.
Potential XII: Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Simarjeet Singh/Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, and Abhishek Sharma
Punjab Kings:
Injuries/Unavailability: There have been no reported injuries in the Punjab Kings’ lineup.
Strategies & Matchups: Nehal Wadhera might be kept ahead of Suryansh Shedge because the most of the spin options in SRH’s bowling camp are probably going to favour left-handers. This could also provide some variation to an otherwise right-handed-dominated middle order. After bowling just seven overs between their last two games, Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell may receive more overs in Hyderabad.
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Yash Thakur/Vijaykumar Vyshak are most likely to be in the XII.
Were you aware?
SRH has suffered the greatest wicket losses of any team in this phase of the IPL 2025, having lost 12 in Powerplay. They have lost one wicket every 15 balls on average.
The Punjab team last qualified for the Play Offs in 2014, and their only IPL victory in Hyderabad occurred at that time.
Among the seam assaults in the 2025 Indian Premier League, the SRH pace attack has the worst average (42.86) and the second-worst economy rate (10.74).
What they stated:
“I believe we are aware of this wicket’s excellent surface. I believe it was played on 270 and 280 the last two times. High scoring is expected, but I believe that when we’ve performed at our best, we’ve simply been extremely controlled and have a good understanding of the bowlers’ goals and the conditions. That will therefore be the objective for tomorrow, according to SRH head coach Daniel Vettori.
Indeed, he was removed early in the last game. However, if you look at the game before it, against RR, it was due to Maxwell and me; we were able to form a strong combination. Nehal Wadhera allays worries over Glenn Maxwell’s form by saying, “He was looking very good during practice and hopefully we’ll see a very good innings coming from him very soon.”
India
