“Going through traffic red lights and not being caught” - Indian legend’s scathing attack on SRH’s poor run in IPL 2025

Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar believes the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) have endured a sudden struggle with the bat in IPL 2025 due to opposition bowlers having better plans in place. Gavaskar feels SRH's high-risk approach worked last year because it took opposition teams by surprise.

Led by Pat Cummins, the franchise finished runners-up in IPL 2024 and broke several batting records throughout the tournament. They broke the all-time IPL record for team totals and took the top two spots with scores of 287 and 277.

The trend looked to continue this season, with SRH scoring 286 in their opening encounter against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, the batters have struggled ever since, resulting in the side losing their last four outings.

Reflecting on SRH's sudden downfall with the bat, Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar:

"There is something about speed, isn’t there? Speed thrills but also sometimes kills. Last year, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, with their openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, set up a new template for how to bat in the Powerplay as well as beyond. Their batting was like youngsters in their fancy sports cars going through traffic red lights and not being caught."

He continued:

"They batted at breakneck speed, taking the opposition completely by surprise, and as a result, their team came very close to crossing the 300-run mark in the IPL. This year, in the first match, SRH went through the red light without being caught. But just as the traffic police get smarter and capture those offending cars, so too have the bowlers of IPL teams started to put the brakes on not just SRH but also other teams trying to emulate them."

SRH have crossed 170 only once in their last four matches after the sparkling batting display in their season opener. With their bowlers bleeding runs at an alarming rate, the side find themselves at the bottom of the points table.

"Have to find a new way to try and breach the red lights once again" - Sunil Gavaskar on SRH

Sunil Gavaskar believes the SRH top order will have to devise a new method to pile up massive scores again for the rest of the 2025 season. After smashing boundaries at will last year, SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have struggled this year.

While Head averages under 30 after five matches, Abhishek has been shockingly poor with an average of 10.20.

"SRH have now, at the time of writing, lost four consecutive matches, where the top three have not made much of a contribution. Bowling slower deliveries and mixing them with the odd one into the ribcage of the batters has resulted in them holing out to the fielder at deep square-leg and being dismissed in the Powerplay itself. The batters will certainly have to find a new way to try and breach the red lights once again," Gavaskar wrote in the same column.

SRH will look to snap their four-game losing streak in their next outing against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 12.