Can Travishek, Klaasen, Reddy and Cummins push SRH to go one better?

Where they finished last year

In 2024, SRH made their first final in six years. They started with a bang, with five wins in their first seven games. Eventually, three more wins and an abandoned match left them tied on 17 points with Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the end of the group stage, but a superior net run rate meant SRH finished second. They then lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Qualifier 1, but beat RR in Qualifier 2 to make the final, where they lost to KKR again.

What's new in 2025?

While they have that stellar top five, SRH are short on depth among local batters. Aniket Verma is in his debut season, Abhinav Manohar played just two games in 2024, and Sachin Baby last featured in the IPL in 2021. Hence, with captain Pat Cummins , Head and Klaasen as overseas lock-ins, SRH might look to include Kamindu Mendis to shore up their line-up.

Although SRH retained Cummins and signed back Jaydev Unadkat after initially releasing him, they will have an otherwise new-look bowling attack in 2025. Cummins and Unadkat now have the company of Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel and Rahul Chahar. Shami is likely to take the new ball, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, their mainstay since 2014, no longer with SRH. Among overseas bowlers, SRH can choose from Adam Zampa and allrounder Wiaan Mulder, while Reddy, Abhishek, Head and Kamindu could chip in with a few overs too.

Likely best XII

1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Adam Zampa

Big question

Who should be SRH's fourth overseas player after Head, Klaasen and Cummins? 1.4K votes Kamindu Mendis Adam Zampa Wiaan Mulder Eshan Malinga

Watch out for

Abhishek and Head blew oppositions away last season and took the idea of maximising the powerplay to dizzying heights. But the duo couldn't carry their sizzling form into their last four games, across which they added just 15 runs. However, if SRH get lift-off from their openers even in half their games this season, opposition attacks could have nowhere to hide.

Mohammed Shami took 28 wickets in the powerplay at an average of 21.25 and an economy of 7.08 across the last two IPL seasons. But an ankle injury , which required surgery, kept him out of cricket for over a year. Since his return, he has bowled in the powerplay in four T20s and picked up two wickets. He then proved his fitness and form by taking nine wickets in 41 overs during the Champions Trophy. If he stays fit and can strike with the new ball regularly, SRH won't feel Bhuvneshwar's absence as much.

Since his return following ankle surgery, Mohammed Shami has taken 14 wickets in 11 T20s • BCCI

Key stats

Since his return following ankle surgery, Shami has taken 14 wickets across 11 T20s for Bengal and India. He has averaged 23.50, and had an economy rate of 8.02.

Abhishek Sharma has a strike rate of 200.86 in the 28 games he has played since the end of IPL 2024. He has scored three hundreds during that period, two of which have come in his last six games.

Who's out or in doubt?

Cummins missed the Champions Trophy with an ankle injury, but has started bowling again . He did not require surgery, and recovered through rehab. Last year's MLC final, which took place in July, was Cummins' last T20 appearance. With the WTC final and a Test tour to the West Indies coming up after the IPL, Australia will hope Cummins remains injury-free through the IPL.

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