Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes Sunrisers Hyderabad’s has assembled a potent squad in IPL 2025 mega auction but feels they might face backup issues in the upcoming season. The renowned commentator said the Orange Army has spent the majority of their purse on getting a strong XII but they don’t have a great depth in their squad, which could become an issue in case of injuries or poor form of any particular player.
Meanwhile, SRH reached the final of the previous season and they will be determined to go one step further in the next edition. Earlier, SRH had retained Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, and Nitish Kumar Reddy before the auction.
“The XII is good, but they don’t have backups. Backup is a serious, serious concern because you spent so much money on making your final XII. You suddenly feel 90% of your purse is playing on the ground, which is not a bad thing, but it becomes a bad thing if someone gets injured or loses form,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra feels attacking batters like Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, and Abhishek Sharma as they will go for their shots from the get-go and thus they can be inconsistent.
“We are assuming that Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head will exactly play as they did last year, and Heinrich Klaasen will also not stop. They play such high-risk cricket that you don’t get consistency at times, and they are expecting consistency from them only,” Chopra observed.
On the other hand, SRH were able to rope in Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel. However, Chopra added that Mohammed Shami is injury prone and there is no backup in bowling as well.
“They made huge bids for Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel. Punjab didn’t use the Right To Match card for whatever reason. There is a definite upgrade in bowling, but there is no backup in bowling as well. Shami is injury-prone,” he said.
“If something goes wrong, their bowling might actually struggle a little because Simarjeet Singh and Jaydev Unadkat – you won’t get a replacement for Mohammed Shami. I feel they lack backups slightly,” Chopra observed.
IPL 2025 will start on March 14 with the final on May 25.
