It has been a rough start to the season for Sunrisers Hyderabad despite the power-packed squad they possess, as they slipped to a 1-3 record with a thumping loss against KKR. SRH are seen as one of the strongest on-paper teams of the competition, but it hasn’t quite come together for them this year. The bowling has been expensive while the batting has failed to click the same way as they did in 2024, and it has left the Orange Army scrambling.
In the fifth match of their tournament, they prepare to host a Gujarat Titans team that seems to be in red-hot form. Despite all the pressure on their top three, they have pulled through regularly to protect their fragile middle order. Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler have been in sparkling touch, stringing together great partnerships and seeing them home against RCB in their previous game. If Shubman Gill can start converting his starts, GT will begin to look like a really dangerous team, especially with their bowling clicking in this opening portion of the season.
As Hyderabad prepares to host this game, there will be calls for some sort of change in the SRH team, if only to try and reinvigorate a batting unit that scored 286 in the opening match but fallen somewhat flat since. Their bench doesn’t have great depth, but there will have been half an eye on the form of Sachin Baby and Atharva Taide in the nets, to see if they can sharpen the batting unit and bring the best out of their destructive players.
However, a lot will depend on the form of Travis Head but in particular Abhishek Sharma up the order, with Abhishek in particular not finding his feet at all so far in this tournament. Opposition fans are well aware of the kind of starts that the ‘Travishek’ pair can get off to, and that will be key as they look to find their form again.
GT likely won’t look to chop or change too much, with a fairly settled lineup throughout the tournament already. Their bowling has been very solid, outside of an expensive Rashid Khan, but it is a testament to the well-rounded unit they have built that they have been able to protect their Afghan star in these opening matches.
SRH might also be looking at changes in their bowling department, but there aren’t too many options for them there either. Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins are two of the best bowlers in the world, but haven’t shown it so far. It is time for some heavy lifting from this pair.
SRH likely XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Wiaan Mulder, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari, Mohammed Shami
GT likely XI: Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Arshad Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
