Except for quitting in the last minute, Sunrisers Hyderabad shattered several records this year. They have had a season of turnarounds after finishing tenth out of ten in 2022, last in the table in 2021 and bottom last year. The batting pyrotechnics from Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen were their strength with captain Pat Cummins bringing calmness to the team.
The key factors that led to this amazing turnaround…Inclusion of Australian firepower
They did not go for an overall revamp, choosing instead to break the bank to sign Australia skipper Cummins for Rs 20.5 crore and opener Travis Head for Rs 6.80 at the auction while retaining the core team. This inclusion gave them life.
Head-Abhishek combination at top
Powerplay batting was not new or unique in world cricket as we know it today but Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma took it into another level. The duo helped SRH break several records. While Abhishek Sharma hit most sixes during the season, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) finished with most maximums among others things. It was more often than not that these two sealed games’ fate by their attacking game mode. SRH broke highest record twice riding on this form of both these players as well as scored unbeaten partnership of 691 including, inter alia an unbroken opening stand.”
Cummins’s captaincy
There were question marks over how Cummins would fare leading a team in T20 format/genre/category/type? Surprisingly enough, he fitted perfectly into that role and brought out the best from his men too! He had good communication with domestic players whom he worked with here for the first time ever.” Bold decisions characterized Cummins tactics like horses-for-courses strategy even if it meant benching Markram, Mayank Agarwal,Rahul Tripathi and Glenn Phillips.
He formed a formidable partnership with head coach Daniel Vettori and the duo’s experience of working together at the Australian national team setup produced results. Vettori was clear in his vision and time and again Head-Abhishek credited the captain-coach duo for their success
Making their home a fortress
Prior to Hyderabad’s debut match, Captain Cummins said they wanted to make their ground a fortress, he didn’t back off from it either. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) won five out of six matches played at home, losing only one, and the other against Gujarat Titians was washed out. They made sure that they took advantage of their home conditions to make it into playoffs.
The bowling unit consisting of T Natarajan (19 wickets), Cummins (18), and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (11) deserves a mention as they did their job under the radar with the batters hogging the limelight. SRH caught attention in T20s around the globe by employing high-risk high-reward tactics. How many teams will emulate this trend as we near T20 World Cup makes cricket even more interesting.”
