IPL 2026 | Sunrisers Hyderabad put all eggs in batting basket

When Sunrisers Hyderabad are on song, they can look other-worldly. 

SRH, having been given the license to thrill from skipper Pat Cummins and coach Daniel Vettori, have raised the batting ceiling to the level where the cricketing world believes they would be the first to breach the 300-run barrier in the Indian Premier League. And that prophecy almost came true when they made a breathtaking 287/3 in 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024. 

​The Sunrisers have also made the 100-run Powerplays and the super-high first-innings totals seem the new normal, and have done it to the extent that five of the top six highest IPL totals belong to them.

​They come into games with the motive of going full throttle, and the ideology is backed by the truest of its believers in Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, interim captain Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen. 

Thriving on an exciting batting approach, they decimated teams scoring 250-plus totals thrice in 2024, including the league’s highest score. 

​However, their biggest strength also turned out to be their weakness last season as they failed to reach 200 a whopping eight times.

​That, though, will not stop them from opting the same no-holds-barred philosophy this time as well. And the final game last season will attest to that as they signed off their campaign with the third-highest total in the league’s history.

SRH are a scary unit. What makes them scarier is they operate on role clarity rather than mindless slogging.

​Despite having a box-office batting line-up, they also added the hard-hitting Liam Livingstone for Rs 13 crore in the auction, causing confusion and drawing criticism.

​Hindsight is 20/20 and the think tank might now be wondering if they failed to do justice to the Rs 25.5 crore they brought into the auction, especially after failing to strengthen their Achilles Heel: bowling.

Their bowling, especially the death, will be in prime focus. What they failed to have last season is control between overs 16-20. Having not made any big-ticket bowling purchases in the auction, they will again pin their hopes on Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat, who can be good death bowling options. 

​Another important factor will be how Cummins bounces back from a disappointing season as and when he is ready to play. Given he has only played five games (all Tests) since last IPL, SRH will also be sweating over his match fitness.

Their other overseas option is Brydon Carse, who certainly has potential but failed to even make England’s T20 World Cup squad. ​Two of their other fast bowling overseas recruits, Jack Edwards (ruled out) and Eshan Malinga (injured), add to their woes.

SRH have added a cluster of domestic fast bowling talent, but none of them has the experience to be a dependable option.

Leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari, who showed some promise early in the season last year, is expected to start alongside the talented Harsh Dubey.

Taking into account the flatness of the surface in Uppal, it does, to a certain extent, feel fair to put all eggs in their batting basket.

Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Amit Kumar, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jack Edwards, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Onkar Tarmale, Pat Cummins (c), Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Salil Arora, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Smaran Ravichandran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari

Best finishes:
2016 (Champions).