SRH are in Mumbai. A team that has been scoring 200 as easily as you can make a bowl of instant noodles will play at a ground where you can smash sixes more fluently than you can say 'Sunrisers Hyderabad'.
Behind SRH's batting feats this season, however, is a well-oiled pace attack that has the new-ball skills of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the experience and leadership of Pat Cummins in the middle overs, and the death-over smarts of T Natarajan. This trio, along with Jaydev Unadkat, has helped SRH defend five out of six targets this season. While they have had the cushion of some 250-plus totals, they were defending 202 in their previous game against Rajasthan Royals and emerged on top despite having only 26 to defend in the last three overs.
In those 18 balls, Natarajan showcased his variations and yorkers, Cummins his slower bouncers, and Bhuvneshwar his calmness even as Royals needed only six off the last three deliveries.
"What we're lucky with, particularly in our pace-bowling unit, is that we've got a lot of experience, so we've got a lot of guys who've been there and done that so when they're presented with some difficulties or problems in the game, they've got that sage wisdom," SRH bowling coach James Franklin said on the eve of the match against Mumbai Indians. "They can think on their feet and discuss out there and work out there what's needed for the game's context. As much as the data is there, you still have to play the game in front of you and that's where experience helps.
"Sometimes the way we've seen matches unfold and with how dominant the bat has been, from a bowlers' point of view you need just calm, cool heads that have a little bit of experience and a little bit of know-how and hopefully, all through the course of the season, it'll hold you in good stead. So those four players, they've been going nicely, it's been a really tough campaign for most bowling units. But we, like other teams, are trying to find ways to be in the contest and to have an effect and those bowlers have been doing a really good job for us."
Bhuvneshwar has moved the new ball when there is swing on offer and is up there at the top for the most wickets in the powerplay this season.
Cummins, who in his maiden captaincy stint in T20 cricket has galvanised a team that finished bottom last season, has taken on a middle-overs role that has filled a requirement for SRH, especially when flanked by Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan on either side. His slow bouncers and offcutters dug into the pitch have restricted batters and yielded seven wickets in the middle overs this season with an exceptional economy rate of 7.71.
And while Natarajan missed out on selection for the 2024 T20 World Cup, his death-overs exploits have served as a reminder of the promise he had in his initial years. He's taken nine wickets at the death, second only to the peerless Jasprit Bumrah (10), and is in the running for the Purple Cap even though he's played only eight out of SRH's first ten games. If he can stay injury free, he will give India another potent fast-bowling option in the future.
"Everyone knows in India his pedigree particularly with the old ball and death bowling," Franklin said of Natarajan. "But for me, it's been his first one or two overs that have been really exciting to watch and how he gets into the game. He's another guy who adapts to the situation. He generally comes in the back end of the powerplay for us so the game is already underway and he adapts very well. His great strength is the yorker and that's where he's an asset for us. If he keeps going the way he's going and holds his form throughout the rest of this IPL, then those conversations around India will take care of themselves."
With bowlers taking a pounding this season, Franklin said they were looking at it as a different kind of opportunity.
"With the expectations around the batting groups, we try to flip that around and go, 'ok, there's an opportunity, we can actually have some fun with it'," he said. "Yes, there might be challenges out there, but our bowling unit has good experience, and we try to execute the best we can."
After two successive defeats, SRH's bowlers stole a one-run win against Royals to keep them among the top four in the points table. They need more of that from their experienced attack in Mumbai to stay ahead of the chasing pack.