An Oddsworth Opinion
What Nathan Ellis changes about the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack
Sunrisers Hyderabad's fans have a new team sheet to admire. It runs to nine bowlers for IPL 2027, from Pat Cummins down to Harsh Dubey, and the view doing the rounds is that it is one of the best bowling groups in the league. Our ratings find one bowler on it who belongs among the IPL's best, and he only arrived this week.
Nathan Ellis came over from Chennai Super Kings with Khaleel Ahmed in the four-player trade that sent Liam Livingstone the other way. Our IPL bowling ratings place Ellis sixth of 116 bowlers, worth 4 runs a match more than an average one.
How good is Nathan Ellis?
He is good enough to lead an attack on his own. In men's T20 cricket over the last two years he has taken 69 wickets in 51 matches, with an economy rate of 8.01 against 8.19 for all bowlers.
He spent the summer with Sunrisers Leeds in the Hundred and kept taking wickets there, including 2 for 18 against Welsh Fire.
1.3 a match in his career
What about Pat Cummins and the rest of the SRH attack?
The captain is where the story wobbles. Cummins sits 42nd of 116 in our IPL bowling ratings, worth about a run a match more than an average bowler.
He has also been expensive. Over the last two years his economy rate in men's T20 cricket is 9.27, well above the 8.19 for all bowlers, and his last match of the 2026 IPL went for 64 runs in four wicketless overs against Rajasthan Royals. A captain who leaks runs at that rate is a hard man to build a whole attack around.
Further down the team sheet, T Natarajan is 45th of 116 and Khaleel Ahmed is 80th, which makes Khaleel slightly worse than an average IPL bowler. Khaleel's economy rate of 9.34 over the last two years is the highest of the four.
How strong is the Sunrisers Hyderabad attack?
Strong at one end and ordinary at the other. Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga and Harsh Dubey give the side cover for a long season.
Ellis gives Sunrisers a genuine spearhead. Until Cummins bowls like one alongside him, that team sheet will read better than the scorecards it produces.