It has been two weeks since the IPL began, and we are yet to see the world’s best bowler in action. During the second innings, when Rajasthan Royals were chasing (read: sauntering towards) Sunrisers Hyderabad’s modest 127, the TV camera showed Tom Moody and a po-faced Dale Steyn.


Steyn, despite being fit, has been benched for three games in a row now. Unless there is an extremely compelling case for his exclusion, he is an automatic selection in any team that he plays.

And the Sunrisers Hyderabad do have an extremely compelling case.

They have Trent Boult, a promising fast bowler from New Zealand, who is fresh from his World Cup success. Boult, along with Mitchell Starc, was the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup. His 5-27 against Australia was one of the best spells in limited overs cricket of late. His ability to swing the ball both ways with a steady pace, and his recent success (mainly the latter) have made Hyderabad’s team management pick him ahead of Steyn. And, to be fair, Boult has done fairly well, picking up five wickets with a strike rate of 8.

The quandary 

Trouble is, Sunrisers cannot afford to include both Boult and Steyn in the playing eleven. Given the cap of three on foreign players in the team, playing both of them would mean dropping either Ravi Bopara or Kane Williamson.

Bopara, despite his limitations, is an all-rounder. He can hit the big shots towards the end of the innings. His mix of straight deliveries and off-cutters does not allow the batsmen to score freely in the middle overs. With four wickets in the tournament so far, he was the best bowler for Hyderabad on Thursday, returning with figures of 2/18, giving away less than five runs per over. Unless, Bopara becomes a liability to the side by performing with neither the bat nor the ball, it will be difficult for Steyn to replace him.

Other than the three foreign bowlers mentioned above, Sunrisers have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, and Parvez Rasool on their roster. Even if one bowler is off-colour, they can always pick another one. For instance, after Ishant Sharma’s disastrous performance in Hyderabad’s first match, he was replaced by Praveen in their next.

On Thursday, Praveen almost pulled off a miraculous win/tie for Sunrisers when he bowled the last over having to defend a paltry five runs. He gave away just four in the first five deliveries before Faulkner won the match with a boundary of the last ball.

Of coure, the team management could pick Steyn by making Kane Willamson or Eoin Morgan sit out. But Sunrisers’ batting looks the weakest among all the teams in the tournament so far. They depend heavily on the top order, especially on skipper David Warner. Warner scored two half-centuries in the first two matches and was looking good for the third yesterday when he was ran out to a brilliant throw by Ajinkya Rahane. But it would be too much to expect Warner to score well in all the matches that he plays. Their other batting trump card is Shikhar Dhawan, who has so far failed to convert his brilliant starts to big scores.

Capable but inconsistent 

The middle order appears fragile, with most of the batsmen looking unstable. Nor do Sunrisers have a big hitter like a Maxwell or Dhoni or Faulkner for the closing stages of the innings. Bopara is capable but not consistent. Williamson is a fine batsman but not a serial six-hitter; he is more of a mainstay. Morgan, who could score quickly with his unorthodox shots, is still struggling for form. Unless one of the middle order batsmen, KL Rahul or Naman Ojha, becomes consistent, it would be unwise for Warner to replace Williamson or Morgan with Steyn.

Naturally, Warner is far from averse to having Steyn on his side – which captain would be averse to having the best bowler in the world in his team?  He was quoted as having said at the Press conference after  the first match that he would definitely use Steyn in the tournament. It would be interesting to see if Warner opts for Steyn in the next match, after Boult returned with pedestrian figures of 1/31 against Rajasthan Royals.

Steyn is not just a good bowler – he is one of those impact players who can change the course of a match. He is passionate about the game and can inspire the entire team with his bowling. He is also the most experienced bowler in the side. Will Steyn’s comeback enliven the largely lacklustre Hyderabad team?

Rajasthan Royals (131/4) beat Sunrise Hyderabad (127/5) by six wickets.