Cricholic
The Sunrisers Hyderabad entered IPL 2025 with a powerful batting lineup, further strengthened by the addition of Ishan Kishan at the top. With three left-handers in the top order, questions arose about balance and batting positions. However, their emphatic 286/6 in the season opener against Rajasthan Royals silenced early concerns, with Kishan leading the charge with a stunning 106*.
Yet, since that explosive start, Kishan has recorded three consecutive single-digit scores, while Abhishek Sharma has also struggled to make an impact. This has highlighted SRH’s growing dependency on their top-order. The numbers tell the story—SRH’s top-three batters average 48 with a strike rate of 207.30 in wins since IPL 2024, whereas in defeats, the figures drop to 14.46 and 131.51, respectively.
Ishan Kishan’s Struggles Against Swing – A Pattern Emerging
A recurring pattern in Kishan’s dismissals has been his vulnerability to deliveries swinging or seaming away. While he struck 79 off 33 balls against pace during his century against RR, there’s a crucial detail—he dominated bowlers when there was no movement in the air or off the pitch. Of the 24 balls with no movement, he scored 54 runs, while the nine slower deliveries fetched him 25. Notably, the nine balls he faced in the powerplay came against spin, which allowed him to settle in.
Pace in Powerplay (IPL Stats)
| Variation | Runs | Balls | Dismissals | Strike Rate | Average | Dot % | Boundary % | False Shot % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Movement | 806 | 537 | 10 | 150.09 | 80.6 | 41.5 | 25.13 | 22.7 |
| Slower Balls | 65 | 61 | 3 | 106.55 | 21.66 | 39.3 | 13.11 | 25.7 |
| Seam/Swing In | 35 | 37 | 4 | 94.59 | 8.75 | 50 | 16.21 | 47.5 |
| Seam/Swing Away | 83 | 93 | 7 | 89.24 | 11.85 | 61 | 16.12 | 31.5 |
Ishan Kishan’s Dismissals to Swing – A Major Concern for SRH
Since IPL 2024, Kishan has been dismissed five times to deliveries swinging away—the highest for any batter. His tally of 29 runs off 32 balls against such deliveries, all pitched on a good length, further emphasizes this weakness. The trend extends to T20Is, where he has scored just 26 off 48 deliveries, falling four times with a false-shot percentage of 52.
A Challenge for SRH’s Left-Handed Trio
This vulnerability isn’t exclusive to Kishan. Both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have also struggled against deliveries moving away. The trend was evident in the IPL 2024 final against KKR, where both fell to the same mode of dismissal. Vaibhav Arora replicated this against Head in SRH’s latest match, marking the Australian’s fifth such dismissal in T20s since 2024—three of which occurred within the first two overs.
While the trio has collectively struck at an impressive 182.58 in four matches this season, bowlers have a clear blueprint for success against them—exploiting movement with the new ball. With teams analyzing these patterns, SRH must find a way to counteract this early vulnerability to avoid being overly dependent on their power-packed top order.
