Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Varun Aaron said the team’s persistence with “X-factor” bowlers like Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain had paid off.

“I’ve been seeing Praful, Sakib, and Eshan [Malinga] for the past three years. Going into this season, the discussion we had within the management was to have bowlers who could provide that X-factor on any surface... especially on the surface we play in Hyderabad, which doesn’t really offer too much for the bowlers,” Aaron said on the eve of Sunrisers’ IPL 2026 clash with Chennai Super Kings here.

“So, if you have bowlers who can actually take the surface out of the equation and have an X-factor — be it high pace, really good slower balls, or even the skill to move the ball when the conditions are not helping you. That’s exactly what we went for. And I’m glad whoever we went for has come good so far,” he added.

Aaron hailed Heinrich Klaasen as the “fulcrum” of SRH’s batting line-up, praising his ability to adapt seamlessly in the middle-order. “I think it’s pretty obvious that Klaasen shouldn’t have retired (laughs)! Playing for us, especially coming in to bat after our explosive top three, to maintain the same tempo or even shift a gear down and then go up towards the end, is not easy at all. He makes it look unbelievably easy.”

CSK’s Spencer Johnson said the side would look to exploit home conditions and use its left-arm pace attack to “challenge” Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma early.

“We’re playing at home, so I feel like we’ve got the advantage. It can be bouncier than what they’re used to in Hyderabad, so we’ll use that to our advantage. We’ve got lots of left-armers to swing the ball away. So, we’re excited for the challenge,” Johnson said.