In 2024, SRH broke free from their free fall of mediocrity, something that very few teams can look back on with pride. After a bitter breakup with David Warner, SRH seemed aimless for two-thirds of the previous cycle as they looked for their next messiah. Pat Cummins helped SRH get back on their feet in the final cycle installment, when it was reasonable to assume that underperforming clubs would already be considering a makeover a year later. To turn around SRH’s mediocre performance, he arrived with fellow Australian Travis Head and a head coach (Daniel Vettori), with whom he previously had a working relationship.
Despite an ever-changing framework, SRH decided to defy batting conventions, bringing new concepts to the table. As they advanced to their first final since 2018, heads were still stunned and jaws dropped at how far they had come in maximizing batting PowerPlays and hitting for the fences. Finding a top-down, squad-wide playing style right before a huge auction, however, had the potential of being short-lived. However, SRH was able to retain their high-performing assets because of the agreement on the retention regulations, which included six players and no cap on overseas selections.
Since Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan, SRH spent a significant portion of their budget on replacing experience with expertise. More importantly, though, SRH enters the 2025 season with what may be the tournament’s most explosive top five. With Ishan Kishan joining the ranks and maybe raising it even higher, SRH has four of the five from the previous edition continuing under the revised retention standards. As they attempt to enter the new cycle with their previous behaviors, SRH may use “more of the same, but better” as their rallying cry.
Whole Squad
Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat, Wiaan Mulder, Kamindu Mendis, Zeeshan Ansari, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa,
Currently, the best XII
Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar/Simarjeet Singh, Sachin Baby/Aniket Verma, and Abhishek Sharma
Concerns about availability and injury
Wiaan Mulder, a South African with a similar trade, has already taken Brydon Carse’s place as SRH’s injured overseas seam bowling all-rounder. Cummins is healthy enough to captain the team from their opening match after missing the most recent Champions Trophy due to an ankle issue. After sustaining a side strain during the January T20I series against England, Nitish Reddy, SRH’s 2024 acquisition and their INR 6 crore retainer, has also recovered.
The player who needs to prove something is…
Ishan Kishan: Since the end of 2023, Kishan has strayed a bit, losing both his core contract for the 2023–24 season, which was revealed last February, and his berth for India in all three formats. He was also left off of the 2024 T20 World Cup winning squad, thus his decline down the hierarchy has been quick and severe.
The road back up is tough, but he’s already on it after playing domestically for Jharkhand again. Given that head coach Gautam Gambhir is adamant about keeping left-right balance in the top order, a strong IPL season might propel him back into the selectors’ sights ahead of the home T20 World Cup the following year.
The franchise has long desired Kishan and SRH, but they are not a match made in auction dynamics despair. After pushing MI to the limit in 2022 and failing, they were able to sign him last year and now give him the opportunity to shine.
A player with the potential to make a breakthrough season
Abhinav Manohar: The big-hitting team may be in for a steady run of middle-order games from the Karnataka batsman, who has proven to be an efficient coach. Despite being lured away by GT in 2022, he did not have enough playing time to showcase his skills.
After collecting 550 runs in 11 innings in the Maharaja T20 League 2024, the second-best total behind Karun Nair’s 560, with an incredible strike rate of 195.35, he set off a bidding war in the November IPL auction. In addition, he hit 57 sixes, 27 more than the next greatest player, Nair, who hit 30. In the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Manohar hammered a 42-ball 79 just over a month after being selected by SRH for INR 3.20 Crore.
His skill and form make him a perfect fit for the finisher position, adding to the damage that the batters before him have created. After only playing 8, 9, and 2 games over the previous three seasons, Manohar might find new life at a squad that shares his expansive hitting philosophy.
Buildup and run-in of fixtures…
With five of their first eight games played at home in Hyderabad, where the flat fields ideally suited their hitting rhythms (6 wins in 7 at home), the Sunrisers have a chance to get off to a fast start and set themselves up for the 2024 playoffs. They begin by playing two games at home and a third at Visakhapatnam, which is just over an hour’s flight from Hyderabad. Mumbai, where their genuine surface should be an ally, is the site of one of their five losses from the previous season, but it also hosts one of the other two away games in the first month.
Before a dispersed block of four games in April, SRH can only have a three-day turnaround between games for the first five games. Even though there are a few games with shorter intervals due to travel, SRH also takes lengthier breaks (four to five days) between two home games at two distinct points during the season to allow for recuperation.
For their final two league games, SRH travels: first to Bengaluru, where they defeated them by 25 runs last season with a score of 287/3, and then to Lucknow, where they did not play in 2024. Additionally, SRH is one of six teams who will play two afternoon games during the first eight days of their campaign (the other six will play three).
This season’s home ground stat to keep an eye on
At SRH’s home ground previous season, batsmen hammered the bowlers with a 9.99 scoring rate, which was only surpassed by Delhi’s 10.76. It appears that more of the same will be tried this year based on the impact player leeway and SRH’s hitting philosophy.
India
