Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori on Saturday backed the decision to use a second ball in the evening matches to mitigate the dew factor during IPL 2025, calling it a “pragmatic answer to a difficult problem.” The BCCI announced that one ball would be changed in the second innings of evening games at the bowling team’s request to counter dew. “I think it’s a really pragmatic answer to a difficult problem, and it doesn’t affect every ground, we know that,” Vettori told reporters on the eve of SRH’s opening match against Rajasthan Royals.
“I don’t think we experienced dew here at all last year, but Chennai, Mumbai I think in particular, so it’s just a nice solution for everyone to come up with, and I think it will work really well,” he said.
With teams regularly breaching the 250-270 mark, expectations are high that the 300-run barrier could be crossed this IPL season.
Asked about the conversation with bowlers, Vettori quipped: “Just don’t be the team that goes for 300,” drawing laughter before elaborating that with flat pitches on offer, bowlers expect batters to take an aggressive stance.
“I think there’s an understanding of the style of play from a batting group now, so whatever ground you go to, you have an understanding that the batting team’s going to be aggressive,” the 46-year-old said.
“I think the only thing that mitigates that really is the pitch, and most of the time, the pitches in the IPL are very flat, very good for batting. So, when you come to these grounds, you know exactly what to expect, you know how a batsman’s going to come up against you.” Vettori said captain Pat Cummins had addressed the team, especially the bowlers, regarding the challenge of countering aggressive batting.
“…It’s a good challenge for a bowling group to try and work their way through that, and that’s how I think Pat addressed the bowling group the other day.
“The expectation is on the batter to do all the work to score the runs, and the bowlers are there just to feed in. So for us, we can have a little bit of fun around it, and if we get those days where we can make it all work, that’s going to be great and will go a long way to winning games. I think the onus is on the batting group to score these runs, and the bowling group has to find ways to mitigate that.” SRH has a formidable opening pair in Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, and Vettori made it clear that they would not alter the combination following the inclusion of opener Ishan Kishan.
“I don’t think we’ll be changing the opening combination, and I think Ishan complements them as well as anyone. He has a similar style of game, obviously, he’s left-handed and has the ability to take on all types of bowlers.
“So, I think we’re very lucky to have him as part of the squad, as I said, to complement those two and then have Nitish and Klassen and a few of our younger batters able to come into the squad as well. So we look at that as a huge addition to the team.” The Sunrisers finished as runners-up in the previous edition and Vettori exuded confidence that the team can go one better this time.
“I think the expectations bring some excitement. I think the expectations are built around the performance of last year and also the quality of the team we’ve been able to put together in the back end of last season and into the auction,” he said.
“So, we as a franchise are really excited about this season, and because we have that foundation from the five players we retained and how well they performed last year, hopefully, we have the squad to do just as well, if not better.
“Obviously, Rajasthan was a great team, and they’ve still got their foundation with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, Sanju (Samson), and Riyan Parag. They’re big players for them, so to have any chance of stopping Rajasthan, it’s getting those three in particular.” Talking about the new-look bowling unit, the New Zealander said: “We feel like we’ve tried to improve the team, and Shami, two years ago, was the Purple Cap winner, and obviously, Harshal Patel was the Purple Cap winner last year. So they’re two big additions.
“We know there are big shoes to fill from Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) and Natu (T. Natarajan), who were stalwarts of SRH and meant so much to the franchise. It was really hard to see them go.
“But I think that’s the dynamic of an auction, and you have to be as nimble as possible and take opportunities. To see Shami come to us and bowl so well recently in the Champions Trophy, that’s fantastic. Those two, in particular, can complement what Pat brings to the table,” he said.
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