The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s head coach, Daniel Vettori explained that the aggressive batting approach of his team was not planned before, but he noticed that the conditions in Hyderabad didn’t complement their expectations and it were tough for the batters. He said it after they lose to Delhi Capitals which knocked them out of the competition to be part of IPL 2025 playoffs.
“I definitely didn’t say after every match I was backing an aggressive approach,” Vettori said. “I said we’re about assessing conditions and this year, the conditions weren’t as we expected. If you look at last year, there were a lot of high-scoring games here.”
“These surfaces in particular have been a little bit different. It has been tricky, it hasn’t been easy for the batters. All we’ve talked about is assessing conditions, trying to read the game and understand what to do in certain situations. I think the guys are innately aggressive, but certainly, this season has been about trying to establish what’s been required on the day.”
During IPL, total six matches were hosted by Hyderabad, where teams have scored more than 200 runs in four out of 11 innings in total. However, in last year’s IPL teams scored more than 200 runs seven times in 12 innings. According to Vettori, the bowling-friendly pitches are the reason of decreasing high-scores.
“There have been two surfaces that have been 250-plus, and there have been four here that have been probably more conducive for the fast bowlers. Not so much the spinners but new ball has been a little bit sticky, hard to hit, not coming onto the bat. The IPL has some of the best new-ball bowlers in the world and they were able to exploit those conditions.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad total played ten matches, and only won 3 games. They came across to a needing victory to stay in competition. Also they were in favourable condition to win the match, after they took 7 wickets of Delhi Capitals at 133, but unfortunately rain started at the end of first innings, which made Vettori frustrated.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing. We came in with high hopes, but we haven’t been consistent enough with our performances. I’ve spoken to you guys a number of times around just not being able to put complete performances together. Today was the start of a complete performance, so it’s frustrating that we couldn’t finish it but that’s cricket.”
Pat Cummins’ new-ball spell gave SRH a good start. He dismissed DC’s top order in the powerplay and finished with number of 3 for 19.
Muhammad Shami, who had poor experience with SRH in current season, took six wickets in 9 games at an average of 56.16 and 11.23 strike rate. Vettori explained that leaving shami behind was based in different conditions, and he appreciated Cummins for performing well on different roles.
“It’s obviously been a tough season so far for Shami,” Vettori further added. “But he’s been working exceptionally hard in the background. We just saw, particularly on this Hyderabad wicket that’s the best make up of the team for us.”
