Follow UsThe Sunrisers Hyderabad began the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on a superb note, scoring 286/6—the second-highest total in the tournament's history.
However, after winning that game by 44 runs, the SRH train derailed a bit. They lost first against the Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets, and yesterday, March 30, their batting succumbed against the Delhi Capitals, and they lost the game by seven wickets.
Amidst the losses, SRH’s batting approach has been questioned where the batters are going hard against the bowlers from the first ball itself. Against DC, they were 37/4 at one stage as a result of that. Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara and broadcaster Ian Bishop questioned such an approach by SRH batters and felt that, tactically, more solidity is required.
“Firstly I was really surprised they chose to bat first [against DC]," Pujara said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show.
"When you're playing an afternoon game, you know that the pitch will be slightly on the slow side, that's when you normally prefer to bowl and that's an ideal time to bowl, not an ideal time to bat. I thought they should have bowled first. But talking about their batting, I think they go too hard and they were not smart enough today.”
Bishop went ahead and pointed out instances where he felt Heinrich Klaasen should have moderated his tempo, as Aniket Verma was batting quite well from the other end.
“Those [losses] are experiences that I hope they will be learning, even Pat Cummins who says 'keep going hard', as they go through the season," Bishop said.
"I look at Klaasen's dismissal, I think even Heinrich should know his power and if he was to stay and bat a little bit deeper, he will score at a huge tempo. It's still early in the season, but they have got to start understanding that if Aniket gets going, we can spend some time there with him as deep as we bat and just soak it up just a little bit more.
"It's not to consolidate for five-six overs, but it's just maybe to manage for about three, four, five bowls, maybe even an over, we're not talking consolidation for long period.”
Pujara focused more on consistency and remarked that SRH needs to be much more efficient and persistent in their performances to win the trophy.
"What is your success then," Pujara said.
"It doesn't make sense if you are just winning two out of 10. You need to win more games. You need to show that consistency again and again. Last season we saw that they played brilliantly throughout the league phase but what if one game goes wrong for you in the knockouts, then you're not able you are not able to have a plan."