IPL 2025 - From fire to falter! Sunrisers Hyderabad’s rollercoaster ride

There would have been few better contenders than Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) if a spot in the IPL 2025 playoffs were to be decided based on how well a team starts and finishes the campaign. While SRH slammed 286 in their league opener against Rajasthan Royals (RR), they smashed 231 and 278 respectively in their final two matches against RCB and KKR. SRH finished their campaign with a mammoth 110-run win and are currently sixth on the points table.

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Unfortunately for SRH fans, the IPL 2025 playoffs race does take into account consistency, an area where the Pat Cummins-led side failed miserably. While SRH players like Cummins, Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen expressed great confidence in the side's ability to post a historic 300-run total, teams quickly figured out a solution to their ultra-aggressive approach. The Hyderabad-based franchise's triumph in their IPL 2025 opener was followed by a four-match losing streak against LSG, DC, KKR and GT. A win against PBKS failed to transform fortunes which majorly came back to haunt SRH.

While opposition bowling attacks managed to figure out a solution to keep the SRH batters quiet, the Hyderabad-based team also didn't enjoy batting-friendly wickets like IPL 2024. Even the conditions at their home ground weren't as expected making it even tougher for the batters. "It's been tricky and not easy for the batters," acknowledged SRH head coach Daniel Vettori.

Another major reason behind the IPL 2024 finalists failing to make their presence felt was the performance of openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. The duo set the stands on fire in IPL 2024, smashing 1,051 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 197.2 with 74 sixes. However, their overall tally reduced to 813 runs in 13 IPL 2025 matches at a strike rate of 177.9 with an alarming decline to 43 sixes. Their dot ball percentage in the current season stands at 37.2 which is certainly higher than IPL 2024's tally of 32.3%.

Abhishek emerged as the better performer between the duo, smashing 439 runs in comparison to Head's 374.Quiz: Who's that IPL player?While Klaasen finishes as the team's top run-getter with 487 runs, even the South African battled a streak of inconsistency with his unbeaten 105 in the final match against KKR adding respectability. Similarly, Ishan Kishan started off with a ton in the first match but finishes with a tally of just 354 runs. Kishan particularly came into the limelight due to a brain-fade moment against MI where he walked off despite being not-out.The franchise badly missed the presence of an all-rounder like Shahbaz Ahmed who could provide stability down the order especially considering a poor campaign for Nitish Reddy, who scored 182 runs in 13 matches.

Cummins and Harshal Patel finished as SRH's top wicket-takers with 16 wickets each, with the former making a late comeback having initially picked 10 wickets in as many matches. However, SRH badly missed the variety of left-arm pacer T Natarajan who had picked 19 wickets in IPL 2024, especially considering a poor display by Mohammad Shami who recorded six dismissals.An overall lack of balance in the squad buildup raised eyebrows, with the absence of an experienced spinner capable of throttling the opposition drawing attention. "With the calibre of the players we have, we can't play any worse than what we did earlier," said Cummins, summing up a season where SRH promised a lot but delivered precious little.