Follow UsSunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have won only two of their seven games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 and are currently at No.9 on the points table. Unsurprisingly, both of those wins have come in Hyderabad, where the surface has allowed their ultra-aggressive batters to go crazy right from the start of the innings. However, SRH batters have failed to do the same in away games.
SRH started the season with a score of 286 against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and then chased down 246 against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) last week. However, they are yet to cross the 170-run mark in away games. They are the only team without an away victory in the IPL 2025.
Even against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on a slightly tricky Wankhede surface, SRH batters failed to score freely. Their fiery openers Abhishek Sharma (40 off 28) and Travis Head (28 off 29) added 59 runs for the opening wicket but it took them 45 deliveries to get those many runs. SRH’s next two batters, Ishan Kishan and Nitish Reddy, also operated at a strike rate of less than 100.
The Sunisers could only manage 162/5 in their 20 overs, which MI chased down with almost two overs to spare. SRH head coach Daniel Vettori admitted his team have been playing on surfaces that don’t suit their style but wants his batters to be more adaptive.
"I feel like no-one really has control over their surface. So there's a little bit of luck involved in terms of coming up against wickets that don't suit us. But I think there has to be more to it from our side that we have to adapt,” said Vettori after losing to MI by four wickets.
"We know that conditions like this exist in Chennai, sometimes in Ahmedabad. So we're not expecting to go over around the country and come up on belters. So the ball's in our court to realise that. And I think we did it relatively well today. It was just incredibly tough through those middle stages. And I've credited Mumbai, how well they bowled throughout that innings.
"In general, it was a difficult batting surface, and 180 maybe would have been a par score and something that could have challenged Mumbai, but I think the way that they navigated the middle period, particularly their six-hitting prowess, took the game away from us."
SRH’s next game is also against MI on April 23, but this time in Hyderabad.