IPL 2025: What happened to Sunrisers Hyderabad this season? Coach Daniel Vettori opens up
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Travis Head (L) celebrates after scoring a half-century during the IPL match against Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad | AFP
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ended their winless streak against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk and coach Daniel Vettori said they are working around their batting line-up and getting the match-ups right for the reminder of the season. SRH defeated MS Dhoni-led CSK by five wickets here on Friday, scoring 155 for five in 18.4 overs after CSK were bowled out for 154.
Vettori admitted SRH have not done well on slow and tricky surfaces so far in this IPL which saw them lose to Mumbai Indians in an away game and two matches at home in Uppal.
"No, we haven't (done well on those pitches)," Vettori told the media after the match.
"We've encountered them away and we've encountered them at home, so it hasn't quite matched up with our expectations around the surfaces. But the onus is on us to adapt and understand what's required," he said.
Vettori said moving around their players was crucial for SRH against CSK as Mendis played a vital role both with the bat and the ball.
"That's why the likes of Kamindu came into the team. That's why there was the shuffle in the batting order, putting (Heinrich) Klaasen up, Nitish (Kumar Reddy) down, to give us a more balanced approach to a chase in particular," he said.
"The initial plan was around left-right-hand combinations, and that's in a way to counter Noor (Ahmad) and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) and how good they are through those middle stages."
"A lot of the logic was picking him (Mendis) for this ground. We knew what sort of surface we'd come up against and to have a batsman who can play all types of spin, be aggressive, and hit a multitude of shots, that was the starting point," he added.
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