Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) made it to the final of the Indian Premier League 2024 season but failed to advance to the title. The Pat Cummins-led team hopes to compete for the prized IPL championship this season after expanding their roster with some big players at the IPL auction 2025 in Jeddah. SRH won their first IPL title in 2016 and want to add to their total.

Last season, they finished second best against the well-balanced defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders. Given the balance, many will believe that SRH may go even further this time around by having a top-tier captain in Pat Cummins. That said, here we look over the two significant strengths and weaknesses of the 2024 Sunrisers Hyderabad squad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 2025 IPL Squad: Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Abhinav Manohar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Eshan Malinga, Brydon Carse, Sachin Baby, Kamindu Mendis, Zeeshan Ansari, Aniket Verma, Atharva Taide.

2 Strengths:

A Swashbuckling and emerging batting lineup

In the previous edition, Sunrisers Hyderabad acted as the epitome of power-hitting, showcasing the imaginative side of T20I batting. They hold the record for scoring the most runs in an IPL innings (287/3 vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru on 15 April, 2024), implying how good they were with the willow. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who tore apart teams with the bat last year and scored at will, comprise the most lethal opening combination, as seen by their recent international exploits.

Ishan Kishan joins the ranks, bringing additional mobility. Like Head and Abhishek, Kishan is an aggressive batsman who can score excellent runs quickly. Not to forget, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy are your ideal number five and six. Klaasen is the big man and the game-winning finisher. Overall, the team's batting has been strengthened to the maximum as all of them have been at their best in the international format, and we may witness a better version of it in the 2025 IPL edition. 

Batter's nightmare Pacers' unit

Sunrisers Hyderabad have a fantastic pace attack. After parting ways with their long-time senior pacer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins takes the lead with veteran Mohammed Shami assisting. Cummins from Australia excelled with 18 scalps the previous season and was a steady force. And with Shami in, the bowling gets a boost. Shami has been bowling at full throttle since returning from an injury.

Due to a major right heel injury, he did not play in the IPL in 2024, although he did take 28 wickets for the Gujarat Titans in 2023 making him a promising pacer for the 2016 champions. Finally, there's medium pacer Harshal Patel. Notably, he has won the Purple Cap twice, most recently in 2021 with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Overall, with the ideal balance of different types of rapid bowlers, it is unsurprising that hitters will have nightmares. 

1 Weakness:

The usual trend of lack of a reliable spinner

Though the forthcoming 2025 Sunrisers Hyderabad spin assault is stronger than the previous season, there may be some serious roadblocks. Rahul Chahar will come into the team, and Australia's reliable spinmeister Adam Zampa can help the Indian bowler.

However, if SRH intends to retain Zampa on the bench, owing to the lack of overseas players, there will be a dearth of frontline spinners. Zeeshan Ansari has yet to play T20 cricket. Except for Ansari, SRH does not have a spinner. Given any concerns about harm, this is one area where SRH may fall short and could be a significant weakness.