IPL 2025: 5 Domestic players who can make a difference for SunRisers Hyderabad

In this article, we take a look at the five domestic players who can make a difference for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) this coming season. 

With the most destructive batting attack in the league, the SunRisers marched to the IPL final last year with ease before getting humbled by the Kolkata Knight Riders at the final hurdle.

This year, with most of their batting order intact and a few shrewd additions to their bowling lineup, will the SRH be able to go one step further and claim their second IPL title? 

Harshal Patel

The 34-year-old had an excellent IPL campaign last year with the Punjab Kings, finishing top of the Purple Cap race with 24 wickets in just 14 innings. Although Patel was on the expensive side, going at 9.73 runs per over, his knack of picking wickets, especially in the death overs, helped his team massively. 

Now donning the SRH orange, Patel will be asked to provide support for the likes of Pat Cummins and Mohammed Shami, who throughout last season struggled to tie down batters in the death overs.

In the lead-up to the tournament, Patel has been in decent form, picking up 11 wickets in just seven innings at an economy rate of 7.46. With long square boundaries and their habit of throwing in occasional slow pitches, the SRH will consider Patel a key player for the coming season. 

Simarjeet Singh

After not playing the entirety of IPL 2023, Delhi’s 27-year-old seamer Simarjeet Singh played some crucial games for the Chennai Super Kings last season in the absence of key regular starters, picking up five wickets in four games, including a 3/26 against the Rajasthan Royals in Match 61. 

After IPL 2024, Singh had an excellent Delhi Premier League campaign as he picked up 18 wickets in just ten games. He followed this with another decent outing in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), where he picked up nine wickets and went at just 7.58 runs per over.

Given the SunRisers’ limited resources with just a 20-man squad, it is very likely that the team management will look to shuffle around their bowlers in order to give proper rest and recovery time to the likes of Mohammed Shami. 

Abhishek Sharma

Punjab’s Abhishek Sharma emerged as one of the most destructive batters last IPL season. The 24-year-old southpaw was responsible for hitting the most sixes (42), and alongside Travis Head he was key to the SunRisers making it to their first IPL final since 2018. Sharma ended his IPL 2024 campaign with 484 runs in just 16 innings, scoring at a strike rate of 204.22. 

Having represented India in T20Is since, against the likes of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and South Africa, Sharma has been in stellar form in the lead-up to this year’s IPL. He scored 255 runs in just seven innings at a strike rate of 216 in the SMAT, followed by 467 runs in eight innings at the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT). There’s no doubt he will have a key role to play if the SRH are to go all the way this time round.

Sachin Baby

The SunRisers are a bit thin with their Indian batters. Apart from Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhinav Manohar, they don’t have anyone with IPL experience to bat in the middle order. This is where Sachin Baby comes in. The 36-year-old left-hander can prove to be the ideal backup or Impact Sub, especially taking into consideration his recent form. 

Across both red- and white-ball formats, Baby has been in excellent form, scoring runs at will and helping his side win matches. He won the Kerala Premier League with the Aries Kollam Sailors, finishing the tournament as the highest run-getter with 528 runs, including an unbeaten 105 off 54 balls in the final. He scored 280 runs in just seven innings at the Ranji Elite stages, and despite Kerala’s poor showing ended the SMAT with two half-centuries and a respectable strike rate of 158. 

Abhinav Manohar

Karnataka’s Abhinav Manohar has found his new home with the SunRisers Hyderabad for the coming season. Having struggled for game time last season with the Gujarat Titans, the 30-year-old middle-order batter was roped in by the SRH for INR 3.2 crore during the 2025 mega auction.

Prior to the auction, Manohar displayed excellent form in the Maharaja T20 League, scoring 507 runs in just ten innings at a strike rate of 197.51. Following the auction, he carried on his good work in the SMAT, scoring 106 runs at a strike rate of 147 coming lower down the order. In the VHT, which Karnataka ended up winning, Manohar scored a crucial 42-ball 79 in the final and ended the season with 235 runs, striking at 145 and averaging 47.

Given their evident lack of lower-order options, the SunRisers would be looking at the 30-year-old as the ideal Impact Sub when chasing targets.