Following SRH four-wicket loss to the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, April 17, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that the team’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs have been dashed.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to field first, limiting the 2016 champions to 162/5 in their 20 overs. SRH lost for the fifth time in seven IPL 2025 games as the host team prevailed with 11 balls remaining.
“I feel like this season is over for them, which breaks my heart. This was a crucial match. After this, they will play MI, and then they will play CSK. Even if they might win a couple, I think this squad is currently far from qualifying. On his official YouTube account, Chopra stated, “I think Hyderabad are unlikely to qualify, and sometimes just one match takes you far away.”
According to the former cricket player who is now an analyst, SRH has not bowled effectively this season, and players like Ishan Kishan and Nitish Kumar Reddy have not shown up at the batting end.
“They were playing well, so it’s sad. Two or three pitches weren’t to their liking. In any event, they are not bowling well. Nitish Kumar Reddy is still a ways off in his batting game. Nothing happened following Ishan Kishan’s 100-run performance in the opening game. This time, the team did a little worse. The tale hasn’t been positive,” he noted.
Nitish has amassed 131 runs from six innings in the current season with an average of 21.83 and a strike rate of 113.92, following a standout showing in the IPL 2024. Since he hammered 106 not out in SRH’s inaugural match against the Rajasthan Royals, Kishan has only managed to score 32 runs in six innings.
The prepared pitch was completely incomprehensible to me: Aakash Chopra
Chopra questioned whether SRH will always have trouble on surfaces that are a little slow, like the one at Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
“Mumbai bowled after winning the toss, and I had no idea what the prepared pitch was. If Hyderabad is forced to play on such a ground, will they always get stuck? Recall that they were unable to bat on a 160-run pitch when they played Gujarat at home,” he said.
The 47-year-old noted that even after spending a significant amount of time at the crease, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, two free-flowing batters by nature, were unable to consistently find the middle of the bat. For the first wicket, they contributed 59 runs in 7.3 overs.
“They had a 50-run opening partnership, but neither opener got out as well this time. They had never played slower than this. The bat wasn’t hitting the ball, but they might have been out two or three times, catches were dropped, and one guy’s (Karn Sharma) webbing was torn. At the Wankhede, the pitch was incredibly slow. Something no one saw coming. It’s a concern that Hyderabad’s vulnerability, when the ball gets trapped a little, came to the fore,” he said.
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