Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) find themselves at the bottom of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table, having secured just one victory in their first five matches. The team, which reached the finals in the previous season, has struggled to find their rhythm this year, with opponents effectively countering their aggressive batting style.
Following their fourth consecutive defeat, SRH’s head coach Daniel Vettori did not hold back in his assessment of the team’s performance. ‘We just haven’t been near our best in any of the last four games. And I think that’s across all three disciplines. The barometer of most teams is how their fielding is going, and we’ve been pretty poor in the field,’ Vettori stated candidly during the post-match press conference.
SRH’s success in the previous season was largely attributed to the dynamic batting of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. However, this year, opposing teams have devised better strategies to curb the duo’s impact. Additionally, Ishan Kishan, who started the tournament with a century, has since struggled to maintain his form.
Vettori emphasized the importance of adapting to varying pitch conditions, noting that the team’s recent match was played on an unusually slow Hyderabad wicket. ‘The big thing for us is around assessing conditions. And the conditions were really tough tonight. This wasn’t a typical Hyderabad wicket. It was pretty slow. We knew before we started that a score of 160-170 was what we were after,’ he explained.
Despite the setbacks, Vettori remains optimistic about SRH’s potential to turn their fortunes around. ‘We know that if we can get on a roll, then we’re still a very good team. We’re just not performing the way that we should be,’ he added, highlighting the need for the team to respect the conditions and the opposition’s bowling strategies.
As SRH prepares for their upcoming match against Punjab, the focus will be on improving their fielding and better assessing the playing conditions to regain their winning momentum in the IPL 2025.