On a hot, humid Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium, the Sunrisers Hyderabad team management decided to go full throttle with their bowling attack. With Trent Boult replacing an out-of-form Eoin Morgan, the Sunrisers’ bowling unit in the playing eleven also included Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Karn Sharma, and Ravi Bopara. Arguably, it was the best bowling attack of this year’s IPL.
Many Sunrisers fans on social media sites were excited at the prospect of seeing Boult and Steyn bowl together. The Sunrisers had loaded excess ammunition to demolish the formidable batting line-up of Mumbai Indians. And that resulted in a deficiency in their batting. On a flat track, chasing a modest 158, Sunrisers once again waned after Warner and Dhawan got out.
Top-heavy batting
With every match, their batting unit’s dependence on the openers (especially Warner) is becoming more apparent. So far, the left-handed duo has contributed a significant amount of runs at a quick pace, setting it up for the middle order. But, except for the match against Delhi Daredevils, when Bopara made a 30-ball 41, Sunrisers have struggled to carry the initial momentum provided by Dhawan and Warner.
Even among the openers, it is Warner who has done the bulk of the scoring. The five-foot-seven-inch southpaw from News South Wales prefers to take on the bowling from the first ball. When he gets going, he can win matches single-handedly. And that is what happened against Royal Challengers Bangalore. But it is unfair to expect Warner to win every match all by himself.
Shikhar Dhawan, with just one half-century, is yet to play his best innings. He has been falling after promising starts. On song, Dhawan can be a dangerous batsman, who can score at a brisk pace throughout his innings. His strokes might lack the brutality of Warner’s but why be brutal when you can be beautiful? His batting, characterised by precision and placement, is the most aesthetically pleasing among all Sunrisers’ batsmen.
Sagging middle
The middle-order of Sunrisers Hyderabad is a work-in-progress. It feels bad to watch KL Rahul coming out every time with a pressure of proving himself as a T20 batsman. It is the same ordeal that his team coach VVS Laxman went through in the past. Cheteshwar Pujara, another fine Test batsman, had to go through the same agony in the previous IPL. These batsmen strive for technical perfection and are designed to play the longer version of the game; they must not be asked to hit sixes off every ball.
It is true that there were other Test batsmen, like Tendulkar and Kallis, who managed to be successful in the shortest format of the game. But they were already accomplished players, who had scored against all teams across many nations – highly skilled batsmen who eased into T20 with the required innovation and improvisation. Rahul, on the other hand, has just started his career. It might take a while for him to fit into T20 (if at all it fits him). But it would be unfortunate if that lowers his confidence as a batsman.
The other two prominent figures in the shaky middle order of the Sunrisers Hyderabad are Ravi Bopara and Naman Ojha. Ojha, when he is at his best, is a fine player, who can score quickly and hit the big shots as well. But he has been woefully out of form this year despite his excellent wicket-keeping. On Saturday, he dived to his right to dismiss Vinay Kumar, taking one of the best catches of the tournament. But the team management would be hoping for his batting to come good too. Half of Sunrisers’ batting woes would be over if Ojha got going. Bopara has so far contributed either with the bat or the ball. It would be great news for Sunrisers if he can get both right. In any case, Bopara’s batting is required more than his bowling.
The five-bowler gambit
With so much needed to be fixed in the batting, it was a bold decision by the team management to field five bowlers. VVS Laxman explained in an interview that the team management decided to bring in Boult in place of Morgan because it believed the young Indian batsmen in the team would score the runs. It might be a good thing to have faith in youngsters, but it shouldn’t be unrealistic.
Even with a formidable batting line-up, a five-man bowling attack is always considered a bold move. With Sunrisers’ batting under repair, their plan to attack the opposition with their bowling clearly backfired. It’s back to the drawing board, but time is running out.
Mumbai Indians (157 for 8) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (137 for 8) by 20 runs.
Many Sunrisers fans on social media sites were excited at the prospect of seeing Boult and Steyn bowl together. The Sunrisers had loaded excess ammunition to demolish the formidable batting line-up of Mumbai Indians. And that resulted in a deficiency in their batting. On a flat track, chasing a modest 158, Sunrisers once again waned after Warner and Dhawan got out.
Top-heavy batting
With every match, their batting unit’s dependence on the openers (especially Warner) is becoming more apparent. So far, the left-handed duo has contributed a significant amount of runs at a quick pace, setting it up for the middle order. But, except for the match against Delhi Daredevils, when Bopara made a 30-ball 41, Sunrisers have struggled to carry the initial momentum provided by Dhawan and Warner.
Even among the openers, it is Warner who has done the bulk of the scoring. The five-foot-seven-inch southpaw from News South Wales prefers to take on the bowling from the first ball. When he gets going, he can win matches single-handedly. And that is what happened against Royal Challengers Bangalore. But it is unfair to expect Warner to win every match all by himself.
Shikhar Dhawan, with just one half-century, is yet to play his best innings. He has been falling after promising starts. On song, Dhawan can be a dangerous batsman, who can score at a brisk pace throughout his innings. His strokes might lack the brutality of Warner’s but why be brutal when you can be beautiful? His batting, characterised by precision and placement, is the most aesthetically pleasing among all Sunrisers’ batsmen.
Sagging middle
The middle-order of Sunrisers Hyderabad is a work-in-progress. It feels bad to watch KL Rahul coming out every time with a pressure of proving himself as a T20 batsman. It is the same ordeal that his team coach VVS Laxman went through in the past. Cheteshwar Pujara, another fine Test batsman, had to go through the same agony in the previous IPL. These batsmen strive for technical perfection and are designed to play the longer version of the game; they must not be asked to hit sixes off every ball.
It is true that there were other Test batsmen, like Tendulkar and Kallis, who managed to be successful in the shortest format of the game. But they were already accomplished players, who had scored against all teams across many nations – highly skilled batsmen who eased into T20 with the required innovation and improvisation. Rahul, on the other hand, has just started his career. It might take a while for him to fit into T20 (if at all it fits him). But it would be unfortunate if that lowers his confidence as a batsman.
The other two prominent figures in the shaky middle order of the Sunrisers Hyderabad are Ravi Bopara and Naman Ojha. Ojha, when he is at his best, is a fine player, who can score quickly and hit the big shots as well. But he has been woefully out of form this year despite his excellent wicket-keeping. On Saturday, he dived to his right to dismiss Vinay Kumar, taking one of the best catches of the tournament. But the team management would be hoping for his batting to come good too. Half of Sunrisers’ batting woes would be over if Ojha got going. Bopara has so far contributed either with the bat or the ball. It would be great news for Sunrisers if he can get both right. In any case, Bopara’s batting is required more than his bowling.
The five-bowler gambit
With so much needed to be fixed in the batting, it was a bold decision by the team management to field five bowlers. VVS Laxman explained in an interview that the team management decided to bring in Boult in place of Morgan because it believed the young Indian batsmen in the team would score the runs. It might be a good thing to have faith in youngsters, but it shouldn’t be unrealistic.
Even with a formidable batting line-up, a five-man bowling attack is always considered a bold move. With Sunrisers’ batting under repair, their plan to attack the opposition with their bowling clearly backfired. It’s back to the drawing board, but time is running out.
Mumbai Indians (157 for 8) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (137 for 8) by 20 runs.
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