Abhishek Sharma (L) and Travis Head (R) have struggled for form early in the IPL 2026 season. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

In a trade-off between explosiveness and consistency, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori clearly prefers the former. 

He understands that T20 batting is all about taking calculated risks, which, as the phrase suggests, is fraught with risk. 

Dashing openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been empowered by this philosophy.

“Within the group, there’s no expectation that they can do it every single time. They play a high-octane game that puts a lot of teams under pressure. And with that, sides have tried to adapt and find a way to bowl to them. The opposition has bowled really well at them in a couple of games. The challenge for Trav and Abhi is to combat that,” Vettori said on Friday, on the eve of the IPL 2026 match against Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium.

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The Kiwi, though, did point out the duo’s success against Kolkata Knight Riders (94 runs collectively) incidentally, is the only match SRH has tasted success this season. 

“They were at their best in the second game. The start that they got us was one of the main reasons we were able to win against KKR.”

“They’re two of the best players in this format, and I have no doubt they’ll be able to come back and put on those performances that we’re used to. We’re not sitting and hoping that they do it every game. We just expect them to go out there and be aggressive… and hopefully it comes off more times than it doesn’t”.

Published on Apr 10, 2026