Key takeaways from Sunrisers Hyderabad's campaign in IPL 2024
What's the story
Sunrisers Hyderabad fell short of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy.
The Men in Orange lost the title clash to Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday in Chennai.
Meanwhile, SRH played an entertaining brand of cricket this season as Pat Cummins was sensational in his maiden leadership assignment in the 20-over format.
Here we look at the key takeaways from SRH's campaign.
Campaign
Summary of SRH's stunning campaign
SRH finished second in the final team standings with eight wins and five defeats (NR: 1).
They claimed 17 points at a healthy NRR of +0.414.
While Cummins's men suffered a humiliating defeat against KKR in Qualifier 1, they eventually earned a final berth by thrashing Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2.
However, SRH couldn't pose a challenge against KKR in the ultimate encounter.
Head, Abhishek
Stunning show from openers
SRH were powered by their openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who scored 567 and 484 runs, respectively.
The latter (204.22) and the former (191.55) had the top-two strike rates among batters with 350-plus runs.
They added the second-most runs in partnership this year (691 at a stunning run rate of 13.46).
SRH had the best run rate in powerplay in IPL 2024 (11.17).
Powerplay
Sensational returns in powerplay
SRH breached the 80-run mark in powerplay on four occasions this season.
The tally includes the top-two highest powerplay totals in IPL history (125/0 against Delhi Capitals and 107/0 against Lucknow Super Giants).
Meanwhile, Head's tally of 402 powerplay runs in IPL 2024 is the second-most for a batter in a season.
SRH were also the only team to hammer 50-plus powerplay sixes (59).
Stats
Most sixes by an Indian in a season
Abhishek smashed the most sixes this season (42). No other Indian has tallied even 40 maximums in an IPL edition.
Virat Kohli trails the youngster with 38 sixes apiece in 2016 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the SRH southpaw overall recorded the sixth-most sixes by a batter in a year in IPL.
Meanwhile, Head hit the most fours in IPL 2024 (64).
Batters
How did the other batters perform?
Heinrich Klaasen was brilliant in the middle order. He compiled 479 runs while striking at 171.07.
Nitish Kumar Reddy (303 runs) was the only other SRH batters with 300-plus runs. He was even named the Emerging Player of the Tournament.
Rahul Tripathi managed 165 runs across six outings at 23.28. Though Abdul Samad managed just 182 runs, his strike rate was 168.51.
Totals
Three 250+ totals for SRH
Eight of the nine highest IPL totals were recorded in 2024. Notably, SRH occupy three of the top four spots in this regard.
SRH became the first side to post three 250+ totals in an IPL season (287/3 vs RCB, 277/3 vs MI, and 266/7 vs DC). This includes the highest-ever total in franchise cricket.
Meanwhile, KKR's 272/7 against DC holds the third place.
Bowling numbers
Key numbers in bowling department
T Natarajan was SRH's highest wicket-taker with 19 scalps (ER: 9.05).
Cummins's tally of 18 wickets was the second-most for a captain in an IPL season (ER: 9.27).
SRH had the third-worst run rate in the final four overs (11.98).
Their powerplay economy was the fifth best (9.47).
The team's run rate in the middle overs (7-16) was the second worst (9.77).