IPL 2019: 5 reasons why Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won’t win the tournament

The runners-up of IPL 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has begun their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 campaign on a bright note as well. Having won 3 of their first 5 matches, they sit comfortably at the 2nd spot in the points table, with a healthy Net Run Rate (NRR) of 1.00.

Although the initial phase of this journey has been a cakewalk, they still have plenty of problems to address. These problems have been clearly evident, but have been ignored due to the winning streak. However, it won’t be any surprise, if these glitches haunt them in the latter half of the tournament. Let us take a look at some of those problems, which might end up as the difference between the franchise and the title.

Inconsistent and out of form middle order

SRH’s last match against MI clearly proved that their middle order is still out of form. Although their openers have overshadowed the poor form of Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan, it has made it clear that SRH will lose matches if the openers fail on a particular occasion.

If this problem is not addressed, the consequences might be harsh. In IPL 2018, Kings XI Punjab had dominated the beginning because their openers Gayle and KL Rahul were in good touch. However, as the season progressed, the middle order was exposed, and KXIP were eventually knocked out of the tournament. SRH need to diagnose this problem, otherwise, we might see this happen to them as well.