The pyrotechnics of destruction: Can SRH make it this year?

"Suna hai rabt hai usko kharaab-haalon se

So apne aap ko barbaad karke dekhte hai"

(I have heard that they admire the downtrodden

So why not see and destroy myself?)

The legendary Urdu poet Ahmad Faraz knew nothing about the IPL, or the SunRisers Hyderabad when he wrote these great lines in his ghazal "Suna hai log use aankh bhar ke dekhte hai" but the latter seemed to have taken them to heart.

There hardly seemed any team capable enough of defeating SRH this season, so they took the easy way out, became their own worst enemy, and started destroying themselves.

Once soaring, the Eagles appear as if their flight has been cut short - at first by the most unlikely of opponents, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and then by their perennial nemesis the Chennai Super Kings.

The Eagles hit the ground running and were ranked third in the league table until a day ago when they were routed by CSK by a whopping 78 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

CSK lambasted the SRH bowlers at first to put up a gigantic 212/3 on the board and then successfully bowled the visitors out for a measly 134 within 19 overs.

The SunRisers, who have scored 250-plus three times this season, seemed withdrawn and almost resigned to defeat on Sunday. The Super Kings were pretty much handed a win by their younger brothers - SRH, whose owners also hail from Chennai.

Whether the disappointing defeat on Sunday is, in my colleague Rudransh Khurana's words, an aberration or alarm for SRH is anybody's guess, but it will ask questions about the hunger and desire shown by the franchise.

It does not have to be said that when Hyderabad batters have got going, they have warmed the heart and welcomed perfidious suggestions of the freedom that one often seeks in watching cricket.

What is surprising, however, is that such a team have found itself being greeted with back-to-back losses, both to teams ranked lower than them in the league table. And this is where the real challenge lies: do they show their real character or walk away meekly, as they have done over the last two seasons?

Daniel Vettori and Pat Cummins, the duo largely responsible for the turnaround that the SunRisers have seen this season, will be scratching their heads (not in unison) and the question wrought large on the dining table will be - have our lads run out of fuel?

There is not a lot to worry about in the SRH camp

SRH captain Pat Cummins may have to ask a few tough questions to his players. [IPL]

Keeping all emotion aside, if one were to delve deep into the question that is perplexing all SRH supporters - was there ever a method to their madness - the answer is not going to be an easy one.

All season, the SunRisers have been served well particularly by their top-heavy batting order, consisting of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Heinrich Klaasen, with the likes of Aiden Markram and Nitish Kumar Reddy coming good in patches.

However, what has hurt the Eagles the most is their inability to adjust to the pace of the game when chasing, although they have been excellent with the bat in hand while setting totals.

Bringing in such a shift in their mindset is not going to be a difficult task by any means, especially as they have showcased their willingness to adapt to circumstances in the craftiest ways possible.

And yet, to bring about that craftiness on the field when they take stock and reset themselves for the five remaining games in the league phase is the challenge embracing them at the end of April.

They are close enough to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020. It must be seductive enough to let all adulation go to one's head and walk away untouched by the sentiments of longing.

Their bowling, once the envy of everyone else in the league, seems to be smoldered enough to make choices that distinguish the experienced from the wise, but therein lies a tale.

All Pat Cummins - of the World-Cup-on-Indian-soil winning fame - can add to team meetings is this: keep backing your strengths and work on the pyrotechnics of destruction that have left many an opponent dazed in your wake.

If the Eagles recover soon, they won't have to pay for the therapy needed by their opponents for the trauma they have received at their hands this season.