Pragmatic Answer To A Difficult Problem: Daniel Vettori On Use Of A Second Ball To Counter Dew In IPL

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori on Saturday backed the decision to use a second ball in the evening matches to mitigate the dew factor during IPL 2025, calling it a "pragmatic answer to a difficult problem." The BCCI announced that one ball would be changed in the second innings of evening games at the bowling team's request to counter dew. "I think it's a really pragmatic answer to a difficult problem, and it doesn't affect every ground, we know that," Vettori told reporters on the eve of SRH's opening match against Rajasthan Royals.

"I don't think we experienced dew here at all last year, but Chennai, Mumbai I think in particular, so it's just a nice solution for everyone to come up with, and I think it will work really well," he said.

With teams regularly breaching the 250-270 mark, expectations are high that the 300-run barrier could be crossed this IPL season.

Asked about the conversation with bowlers, Vettori quipped: "Just don't be the team that goes for 300," drawing laughter before elaborating that with flat pitches on offer, bowlers expect batters to take an aggressive stance.

"I think there's an understanding of the style of play from a batting group now, so whatever ground you go to, you have an understanding that the batting team's going to be aggressive," the 46-year-old said.

"I think the only thing that mitigates that really is the pitch, and most of the time, the pitches in the IPL are very flat, very good for batting. So, when you come to these grounds, you know exactly what to expect, you know how a batsman's going to come up against you." Vettori said captain Pat Cummins had addressed the team, especially the bowlers, regarding the challenge of countering aggressive batting.

"...It's a