3 min readMar 22, 2026 01:33 PM IST
Heading into the 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) bowling unit looks one of the weakest among all 10 teams. With skipper and leader of the pace attack, Pat Cummins, already set to miss the initial phase of IPL 2026 due to workload management by Cricket Australia, and the franchise having let go of Mohammed Shami ahead of the mini-auction, SRH’s bowling attack appears inexperienced and toothless.
The availability of Sri Lankan pacer Eshan Malinga is also in doubt after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) made it mandatory for him to clear a fitness test before issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC).
While the likes of Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma and Salil Arora make the Hyderabad-based franchise one of the most explosive batting units in the IPL this season, their bowling is where the weakness lies.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra pointed out that if SRH manage to score 250, their bowling unit is such that it can concede those 250 as well.
“There will be challenges because the bowling has been dealt a serious blow. Pat Cummins was already not there. So the bowling was already slightly weak, and if Eshan Malinga is also not there, it means you will have to play Brydon Carse, or else you won’t be able to play with Indian bowling. When I see their bowling, it has Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Omkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Harshal Patel, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar and Harsh Dubey, but the bowling is weak. How they manage the bowling will be a challenge because if they score 250, they might concede 250. Their bowling looks like that. Unfortunately, that much might is not being seen in their bowling,” said Chopra on SRH’s bowling attack on his YouTube channel.
However, Chopra is hopeful that SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron could bring a change of fortune for the bowling unit. “Varun Aaron has seen them. He said he has seen Shivang, Harsh, and all other bowlers, that Shivam Mavi is bowling very well, and that they would be fine, and I will find out when I see them. I am hoping I find out,” said Chopra.
“However, at this point in time, when you see the team on paper, you see their entire bowling unit as a challenge, in which spin, especially, gets highlighted because with Zeeshan Ansari and Shivang Kumar, I really don’t think they are going with a very strong bowling attack. Spin is a definite, definite weakness. You cannot ignore that at all,” he added.
