IPL 2025: Ambati Rayudu outlines bigger concern for Sunrisers Hyderabad than flop batting shows

Sunrisers Hyderabad, who stormed into last season's final, have struggled to find their groove in the 18th edition of the cash-rich league. The Sunrisers fell to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025, with their latest one against the Gujarat Titans in their home den.

After folding their innings on a sub-par 152/8, Mohammed Shami and skipper Pat Cummins rattled GT's top order, but the rest of the bowling unit failed to keep the pressure up in the middle overs. Titans skipper Shubman Gill, who brushed away the early threat, stayed unbeaten on 62 to steer his side to a comfortable seven-wicket triumph.

Rayudu traced down the reason behind the ongoing woes behind the Sunrisers' recent downfall and pointed out their lacklustre display with the ball, especially in the middle overs. SRH have taken 12 wickets from 7 to 16 overs, averaging 41.33 and maintaining an economy of 9.92, making them the third-worst among the ten teams.

"In the middle overs, they don't have anybody who can pick up those crucial wickets and put the opposition under pressure - like how GT have done with Sai Kishore, Rashid [Khan] and Prasidh Krishna. They really tightened the screws," Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show.

"I don't see SRH trying to take wickets. They are just about being defensive and trying to stop batsmen from scoring boundaries. You don't win the IPL with mediocre middle-overs bowling. You need some really good middle-overs bowlers to pick up those wickets," he added.

Meanwhile, on the batting front, SRH fans expected to hit the 300-run mark with the bat, considering their explosive performances in the last edition of the cash-rich league.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, the pillars behind Hyderabad's success in 2024, have been misfiring in 2025. While Head boasts scores of 67 and 47, Abhishek has aggregated just 51 runs from five innings. In their last four matches, Head and Abhishek's best opening partnership stands at 15.

Rayudu doesn't believe Abhishek's form is a reason for SRH's panic and said, "I think he just needs a shift in his mindset. Just hit those few boundaries along the ground, beside mid-off, [or] mid-on; run those singles; get your 10-15 runs; [and] get your blood flow going. Then the big shots will always come because you have trained for it. You are there to hit them, and they will come. Just spend a little time on the basics. I think SRH will have to come to basics now."

"All their top three actually like [good] length a lot. So they are looking to clear the infield and hit those sixes off length, which they have been practising of late. Their backlifts have changed. Abhishek Sharma's backlift has changed, Ishan Kishan does that. They are lifting the bat much higher so that their hands are higher, and they can go for those big shots," he added.

Rayudu highlighted the factor behind SRH's top-order underwhelming performances and outlined the full-length policy of bowling that the rest of the franchises have adopted to nullify the threat.

"So now what teams are doing is they're bowling really full to them. Still, these guys are trying to hit over the infield. I think they need to be slightly smart and just hit the gaps, because these are actually half volleys that people are bowling to them. I think a little shift in their mindset [is required], saying, 'Okay, if it is full, generally as a batsman we are all taught to wait for a full ball.' So that's all they need to do: wait for a full ball, hit the gaps, and then let them come and bowl those lengths or short balls, and then you can get after the bowling. They just need to ebb a little bit and then flow," he said. (ANI)