SRH must be prudent with their tactics and maximise their resources to extract the best from the assembled team.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) played an aggressive brand, ending as the second-best team in IPL 2024. Before the auction, they retained five players and bought several quality players to strengthen their side.
They again look like a solid outfit, with most bases covered, and will pose a massive threat to other teams in the competition. However, SRH must still be prudent with their tactics and maximise their resources to extract the best from the assembled team.
We look at three key starting XI decisions SRH must make in IPL 2025.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bought Ishan Kishan for INR 11.25 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, and they should be precise with his batting position. Naturally, Kishan is an opener, but SRH have two solid top-order batters who are unlikely to change their batting positions.
So, SRH should slot Kishan at No.4 to break a chain of LHBs, given Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma are already at the top. Nitish Kumar Reddy should bat at No.3, followed by Kishan at No.4, to blend LHBs nicely with the RHBs.
Kishan has previous experience playing in the middle order, which will be handy in the tournament. In 23 IPL innings at No.4, he has 594 runs at an average of 28.28 and a strike rate of 129.97, including three fifties.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad have Sachin Baby and Abhinav Manohar as two solid Indian batters for pace-hitting in the lower middle order. However, given his recent improvement and expertise vs pace, they should start with the latter.
He scored 550 runs at an average of 78.57 and a 194.35 strike rate in 11 innings, including six fifties, in the Maharaja T20 Trophy last year. Manohar is among the most ferocious hitters against fast bowlers and can thwack any length due to his stable base.
Even in IPL, Manohar has a whopping 152.17 strike rate and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.38 vs pace, suggesting he is capable at this level. Unfortunately, Gujarat Titans (GT) didn’t use him properly in the previous cycle, but SRH shouldn’t repeat the same mistake and extract the most from him.
Simarjeet Singh was with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the previous cycle, but Sunrisers Hyderabad picked him at INR 1.50 crore in the IPL 2025 auction. SRH have Mohammed Shami, Pat Cummins, and Harshal Patel as lead pacers.
While Shami specialises in the new ball, Harshal can take the death-over responsibility, leaving Pat Cummins as a middle-over enforcer. However, SRH should play Simarjeet as their enforcer since he has the pace and bowls shorter lengths.
This will allow Cummins to bowl more in the powerplay, which is necessary since SRH don’t have Bhuvneshwar Kumar now. That would mean SRH have ideal options for all phases without wasting an additional overseas slot.
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