Moments after a washout against Delhi Capitals dashed their IPL 2025 playoff hopes, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori threw his support for his bowling attack for putting up a commendable show to restrict the Capitals for 133/7, before rain interrupted play.

SRH didn’t get a chance to bat and eventually had to share points with DC.

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The result has now left last year’s finalists with only seven points after 11 games this season, meaning at best, they can reach 13 points at the end of the league stage even if they win all their remaining contests. However, that won’t be enough for them to secure a berth in this season’s playoffs.

Having started the tournament on a high, SRH, the finalists of the 2024 season, looked a formidable unit to go all the way. However, a few hiccups in the middle derailed their campaign and by the time they could put up a standout performance with the ball and on the field, it was too late.

“It was a really good performance, probably our best bowling and fielding performance of the tournament so far. It’s something that we really talk long and hard about in training and in meetings. So, to come out there and start so well, it was a very good performance,” Vettori said.

“Obviously it’s disappointing. We came (into this season) with high hopes, But we just haven’t been consistent enough with our performances and just not being able to put complete performances together. Today was the start of a complete performance so it’s frustrating that we couldn’t finish it, but that’s cricket.”

Over the past couple of seasons, the Sunrisers flourished with an ultra aggressive batting approach, but this year, the same approach backfired this season. According to Vettori, it was a season of learning for his ‘innately-aggressive’ batters.

“We’re about assessing conditions, and I think this year, the conditions weren’t as we expected. If you look at last year, there were a number of high-scoring games here, and these surfaces in particular have been a little bit different. It has been tricky, it hasn’t been easy for the batters. All we’ve talked about is just assessing conditions and trying to read the game and understand what to do in certain situations. The guys are innately aggressive, but certainly this season has been about trying to establish what’s required on the day.”

Vettori credited skipper Pat Cummins for turning up with a strong showing against Delhi Capitals after he took the new ball. Cummins returned with figures of 3 for 19 after ripping past DC’s top order. “Pat’s a tremendous new ball bowler normally he sort of plays a bit of a Mr Fix-It role for us in terms of being able to jump all over the power play, the middle, the death. Today it was just a nice opportunity to give him the new ball and go at them and he was fantastic tonight,” he said.

“If you look at his overall performance, he’s been able to be a wicket-taker, he’s bowled a number of different roles for us and he’s been able to mix and match depending on who’s selected in the team. Today, I think the first time he took the new ball, took the first over and you can see why he’s such a dominant test match bowler when he gets that opportunity. So pleasing for him to be able to turn up today and bowl so well and lead the team exceptionally well. Hopefully that carries on to the last three games of the season,” he added.