As IPL 2025 nears the business end, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are facing a formidable challenge after suffering their seventh defeat of the season. From a campaign that filled hope and optimism about their personnel and team dynamics, the frustration amongst SRH’s supporters has been palpable. With little hope of making the playoffs, SRH’s performance has become a hot topic of analysis and discussion on various platforms like Kheloexch, where supporters, pundits and former players have picked apart each of SRH’s matches and some of their tactics.

A Promising Start That Fizzled Out

The season began with Sunrisers Hyderabad making big moves at the auction, bringing in youthful energy and experienced players to the mix. The first set of matches suggested that they had potential with some good batting performances and tight bowling. The belief grew in the side and their supporters following a nail-biting win over Gujarat Titans early in the season. But as the tournament progressed, inconsistency crawled into their campaign.

SRH's batting, while often based on explosive begins by Abhishek Sharma and a reliant and reliable Aiden Markram, was not able to fire collectively when it mattered most. Sometimes their middle order collapsed and in other matches, they could not accelerate in the final overs.
Kheloexch fans have consistently and repeatedly indicated a lack of a solid partnership in the middle overs as the main cause of SRH's poor run.

Defining Matches Which Impacted The Slide

Certain matches within SRH's season stand out because SRH was unable to convert a win from certain situations, which can only be described as a mess.

Vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Chasing a modest total, SRH found themselves bowling under pressure, with wickets falling steadily in a situation which required someone to take charge.

Vs Punjab Kings: Although SRH set up a respectable total some way through their innings and did not bail, their bowlers failed to defend their score, with sloppy fielding and dropped run out chances, this turned out to be costly.

Vs Chennai Super Kings: A game that will be remembered as a true mess, where SRH lost the point of winning after making good early inroads with the bowling, only to gift CSK victory in the dying stages through poor bowling and decision-making.

It would be an understatement to say that Kheloexch has been a hive of activity after the game, much discussion, much analysis of players, called on by experts, and clashing of opinions and comments on key moments of the three matches; many of the same points coming to the fore — lack of finishing power and lack of tactics.

Leadership Challenges and Tactical Blunders

There has been much discussion about SRH with Aiden Markram as his captaincy continues to be examined from early in the season. Markram has provided some level of calm and tactical decision making, however, many have questioned his decision making on-field and the rotation of bowlers, some of his batting orders i.e. the use of Abhishek Sharma at 6 etc. Clearly, the agitated yet reactive placements of the fields and decisions discussed by former cricketers and tacticians on Kheloexch have certainly cost SRH dearly.

Moreover, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s heavy dependence on a handful of key players — Heinrich Klaasen, Rahul Tripathi, Marco Jansen, and others — exposed a worrying lack of depth in their squad. When these core players failed to fire, the rest of the line-up struggled to step up as match-winners. Conversations on Kheloexch echoed the sentiment that if Markram and the SRH management had adopted a more flexible approach in team selection, paired with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, the team’s execution could have been far sharper during the 2023 season.

If you’re keen to be part of such in-depth discussions and stay ahead with tactical insights, don’t forget to complete your Kheloexch signup and immerse yourself in the cricketing talk that shapes the season.

The Bowling Unit: A Caricature of What It Was

Traditionally, SRH has relied heavily on a fairly aggressive bowling unit — Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Umran Malik etc. have all done a solid job in recent seasons. However, SRH has severely underperformed as a bowling unit at IPL 2023.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's decline in both swing and pace has diminished his impact in the powerplay.

Umran Malik's fiery speed has failed to yield consistent wickets, with inconsistency in his control contributing to his inconsistencies.

Marco Jansen, although he has shown promise with no support at the other end, has been ineffective.

On Kheloexch, throughout SRH's season the fans have continuously pointed out that SRH's failure to take wickets during the crucial times i.e. during the middle-overs and death overs was a determining factor in their losses. Fan polls and expert columns stated that more trust should have been shown in the young players who continued to wait in the wings to play, but these chances were limited.

Kheloexch Fans React: What Went Wrong For SRH?

The Kheloexch platform has provided an exciting space for fans to react to and discuss many aspects during SRH's disappointing season. A couple of key points have featured multiple times from user discussions.

Selecting the Team: Fans expressed concerns regarding the continued exclusion of players like Abdul Samad and Kartik Tyagi, two in-form and promising players that SRH did not provide the opportunity to perform.

Lack of Creativity and Strategy: Many comments pointed to a better level of creativity and a poor ability to change batting orders and bowling options during games.

Reliance on Overseas Players: The fans pointed out that the considerable reliance on Markram, Klaasen, and Jansen disallowed enough opportunity for a local player to step up and take accountability.

Key Features on Kheloexch That Engaged SRH Fans

Fan Polls: Discussions about the best playing XIs and best batting line ups have easily received thousands of responses.

Player Profiles: Detailed breakdowns of individual player stats helped fans to understand more about why their heroes were succeeding or failing.

Expert Columns: Tactical breakdowns, as well as expert comments, offered fans insight into the behind-the-scenes thinking and decisions being made.

The Future for SRH

With hopes of a playoff berth diminished to almost null, SRH's remaining matches are more about pride and to discover some depth from their bench to execute next season. They are playing Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in what would be considered must-win games, and while mathematically they can still qualify, they will need the stars to align in their favour for them to go from bottom to fourth.

Fans of Kheloexch have already begun looking to the future about potential rebuild plans. Clearly being discussed is getting its younger players some game time, reshaping leadership, and changing some form of overseas players for next season.

Expert Insights on Kheloexch

Recently, Kheloexch hosted a panel discussion featuring cricket experts analyzing SRH's woes. Former India pacer Ashish Nehra commented:

"Sunrisers Hyderabad had all the components of a well-balanced team but cricket is related to execution and adaptability. Their inability to change tactics in the middle of the season and insert different ideas has held them back."

In a recent fan survey completed on Kheloexch:

68% voted for SRH being consistent with batting and bowling.

72% voted for future opportunities with young Indian players instead of out of form overseas players.

Concluding Remarks

As we all know, Sunrisers Hyderabad's IPL 2025 journey, full of shining moments, will be ultimately defined as a season of misses and unrealized possibilities. It can't be denied that their outcomes were impacted by circumstances, our miscalculation of situations, and more than a few missed opportunities. Fans on Kheloexch have experienced emotional highs and lows and a gut-check in terms of optimism going forward.

It's almost a relief that, as this season comes to an end, Kheloexch will continue to be the hub for insightful deep-dive pieces, informed takes, emotional fan engagement, and a place to keep up on the latest regarding SRH.

Stay tuned to Kheloexch as we continue to provide match previews, expert analysis, and behind-the-scenes takes, as SRH attempts to end this season on a high and starts thinking about their plan for a better showing the next time they take the field, IPL 2026.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Playoff Hopes Dwindle After Seventh Loss