As Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered their fourth consecutive defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, former India batter Ambati Rayudu blamed their 'mediocre bowling' for defeat instead of batting collapses. Rayudu said that SRH don't have anyone to get them breakthroughs in the middle overs. He said that the Pat Cummins-led side is being defensive instead of going for wickets.
"I think it's more their bowling, I feel, than their batting. Because in the middle overs they don't have anyone who can come and pick those crucial wickets or put a team under pressure. Look at how GT has done with Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and Prasidh Krishna. They really tightened the screws," the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter told ESPNCricinfo.
"But for SRH, I don't see them looking to pick wickets. They're just being defensive and trying to stop the batter from scoring a boundary. You can't win the IPL with mediocre middle over bowling. You need really good bowlers to pick up the wickets," he added.
No crucial wickets after early strikes
Defending a total of 152, SRH got off to a good start with Mohammed Shami and Cummins dismissing in-form batters Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler respectively in the powerplay overs. However, the impact player Washington Sundar launched a counter-attack. He registered his IPL best of 49 runs from 29 balls before Shami got the consolation wicket with the old ball. Skipper Shubman Gill played the anchor role with his unbeaten 61 whereas Sherfane Rutherford finished the run chase early with a 16-ball 35 cameo.
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SRH lack support in Harshal's absence
Simarjeet Singh got just one over as he went for 20 runs. Jaydev Unadkat conceded 16 runs from two overs. Kamindu Mendis and Abhishek Sharma bowled one over each whereas Zeeshan Ansari conceded 33 runs from his full quota of four overs. They missed the services of Harshal Patel who was hospitalised due to illness.
No SRH bowler in purple cap race
SRH don't have a single bowler among top 10 wicket-takers of the ongoing tournament. Shami is their highest wicket-taker with five wickets from as many games.