Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had quite the recipe in Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. They breached the 200-run mark six times, including jaw-dropping totals of 287 (highest in IPL history), 277 and 266. A second-place finish in the round robin stage, edging third-placed Rajasthan Royals on net run-rate, carried them into the playoffs with two attempts at making the final. It took them exactly that many chances to seal their first final in six IPL seasons, but that’s where it ended.
In the title showdown, Kolkata Knight Riders got the better of the Surnrisers for their first title in over a decade. But for SRH, it was a disappointing end, and yet, given the kind of cricket they played, they could hold their heads high.
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Strengths
The 2025 season for SRH begins on Sunday when they face Rajasthan Royals at their home ground, the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy were retained ahead of the mega auction, alongside skipper and Australian seamer Pat Cummins, and having signed Ishan Kishan at the mega auction, expect SRH to stick to that near-successful attacking template.
Despite releasing Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for the first time since 2014, SRH have a pretty complete bowling lineup, led by Cummins and their new buy in veteran India pacer Mohammed Shami, who made a successful return to international cricket recently after a year-long injury layoff.
Along with Shami and Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa are key figures among the bowlers in the SRH ranks.
Weaknesses
SRH may well have a stellar lineup of batters but lack of depth in local talent will worry them. Aninket Sharma (debut season), Abhinav Manohar (two matches in 2024) and Sachin Baby (last played IPL 2021) are all without much experience. With Cummins, Head and Klaasen automatic picks for the playing XI, the team could bring in Kamindu Mendis as the fourth overseas player.
It will be also interesting to keep an eye on the fitness of Shami and Cummins. While Shami looked impressive during India’s Champions Trophy triumph, there were bouts of niggles here and there in Dubai, which does leave a little question mark on him given the heavy IPL workload.
That can also be said for the SRH skipper. Cummins missed the Champions Trophy with an ankle injury but has joined the squad without requiring a surgery.
SRH projected playing XI for IPL 2025
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar
SRH squad for IPL 2025
Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, 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
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