Wooden spoon calling? Stubborn SRH need to mend their ways to save IPL 2025 campaign

In IPL 2024, it wouldn’t be a lie if we said that the Sunrisers Hyderabad batting order was envied by fans of most of the IPL teams. Having Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top, followed by the likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen meant that the bowlers were always in for a rough night. The scores were ridiculous and the strike-rates even more.

SRH posted the highest-ever powerplay score in IPL history and the highest-ever total in the tournament. Before the season started, they added more firepower with Ishan Kishan, who had a lot to prove. The start was, well, like a tasty Hyderabadi biriyani. Just rich in flavour and taste. SRH posted 286 runs in their first game, with Kishan hitting a fine hundred. The early impression was that it was going to be more of the same from SRH this season and mission 300 wasn’t far off.

However, what has followed is something the Orange Army fans wouldn’t have envisioned. SRH sit in 9th spot, with only run-rate preventing them from being dead last. The likes of Head, Abhishek and Kishan have flopped, despite the Indian opener getting an impressive 141 in the record run-chase against PBKS. Nitish Kumar Reddy looks out of place at No.4 and Heinrich Klaasen has been their only hope, but he comes way down the order.

What’s wrong with SRH right now?

So what’s been the issue with SRH this season. Is it the method failing or have they been found out or is it a mixture of both? Mark Boucher, speaking after SRH’s loss to MI, said that the conditions in Hyderabad haven’t helped them as it hasn’t favoured their brand of cricket.

Secondly, Boucher feels that the openers go out with an intention to attack and not think about adapting to the conditions.

“Last season, everything that they sort of touched turned to gold. This season I don’t think they’ve had the conditions all the time that’s been in their favour to play their brand of cricket that they wanna play. You’ve seen that the best openers in the competition so far have been guys that have been able to adapt to different conditions and I don’t think these guys really go out there thinking we want to adapt to the conditions. They go out there and want to play one way, which is the aggressive brand of cricket,t and it just hasn’t come off for them,” said Boucher.

So is the method flawed?

Many may feel that the method of approach from SRH is wrong and they need to change it. But why go away from something that has worked out well for them? This was the same thought that Anil Kumble had, as he said the real issue has been the failure of the middle-order.

Kumble feels that players need to understand that it shouldn’t be just about hit everything out of the park or get out for zero and have nothing in between.

“No, it’s not just about the method, I think the method is fine because it’s got them success last year. You don’t want to change that. It’s just the adaptation of the middle order as well. I mean, the middle order has struggled too. I mean, Nitish Reddy hasn’t really performed for them, and he’s batted at No.4 consistently for SRH.”

“That’s where the problem lies. I mean, Ishan Kishan got 100 in the first innings that he played for SRH, and after that, nothing, so it can’t be, you know, either score or nothing. It has to be something in the middle as well for some of the matches,” said Kumble.

What’s next?

For SRH, now they need to win all their matches going forward. It’s as simple as that. However, they will need to be smart in their assessment of the pitches that they go up against. Kumble said that the teams have figured out the mantra to rattle Hyderabad and their feared batters.

The former India coach feels that SRH have been stubborn in their way and not making changes to their philosophy.

“When the openers are not that consistent because they are taking high risk. It’s not going to be always like last season where they’ll come and blast the opposition out. The opposition also have figured out certain methods and ways to sort of get them out.”

“When that happens, then you need to make those changes and SRH have not made those changes. They’ve been stubborn and and sort of thinking that, OK, this is the way we’re going to approach. Let’s continue to do it and possibly maybe too late now because they need 6 out of 6 for them to sort of make it to the playoffs or at least hope to make the play-offs,” said Kumble.

Pat Cummins hinted that they may need to tweak the system a bit going forward and that’s what might be needed for SRH. It doesn’t mean that you need to completely curb their intent. In some games, you need to be smarter and SRH have players who have been through those situations over the years.

Right now, this could be the way forward for Hyderabad as they are staring down the barrel. The wooden spoon after missing out on the IPL title last season isn’t something the management would have liked. At the moment, they seem destined for a last-place finish.