Sunrisers Hyderabad chokes again

In the last few years if there has been one team that has consistently given Mumbai Indians a run for their money then it has been Sunrisers Hyderabad! In fact last season they mowed down Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets. The way Bairstow started it looked like we are back in Sharjah but then disaster struck with Bairstow getting hit wicket. When things don’t go well, I have seen people finding strange ways to get out and Bairstow’s wicket showed that. His wicket and the subsequent run out of David Warner turned the match on its head and the weak and inexperienced middle order of SRH caved in and handed Mumbai Indians another victory in IPL 2021. So what were the hits and misses from yesterday’s match? Let’s find out:

The Hits:

1. Johnny Bairstow has been in tremendous form in the T20/ODI series against India which preceded the IPL. I was a bit perplexed when I saw that Sunrisers Hyderabad didn’t open with him in the first two matches. If Bairstow has to play then he should play as an opener. He is relatively wasted at number 4. Finally, SRH got that opening combination corrected yesterday and we were able to witness a masterclass from Johny Bairstow. Sunrisers were chasing a relatively low score of 151 runs and thanks to Bairstow they were able to cross 33% of the target in the first 6 overs itself. With 4 towering sixes, he scored 43 off just 22 balls to give his team a fantastic start. He got out bizarrely when he hit his wicket with his backfoot while pulling a ball from Krunal Pandya. His wicket shifted the momentum back to Mumbai Indians.
2. Kieron Pollard has had a relatively quiet tournament thus far. This is not new because he takes time to warm up but one thing is sure that when the chips are down for Mumbai Indians he or Hardik Pandya always come up with something special. The Chennai pitch has been sluggish right from the second match onwards and invariably Pollard struggled to time the ball. But as the innings progressed he got used to it. He remained not out on 35 runs off 22 balls and the two sixes that he hit in the last 2 balls of the innings were eventually the difference between the two teams because Mumbai Indians won by 13 runs.
3. Like Pollard, Hardik Pandya has been struggling too. Chennai is not the kind of pitch where players like Pandya would enjoy batting on and hence it was not surprising. But you can’t keep Hardik Pandya out of a match, can you? The day before yesterday we saw two brilliant pieces of fielding by Jadeja and yesterday we saw some similar magic from Hardik Pandya. After Bairstow got out, David Warner needed to play through because the Sunrisers have a very inexperienced middle order. Warner on his part was going well and playing within himself and looked all set to play the anchor role for his team when a moment of brilliance from Pandya saw him hitting the stumps direct from short fine-leg to find the batsman marginally short from the crease. If Bairstow’s wicket was the turning point then this was the death knell for SRH. Pandya was not done for the day because he affected a similar run out towards the end when he hit directly to run out Abdul Samad. This is what makes Mumbai Indians a champion team because all players contribute in some way towards the team’s victories. 
4. Rahul Chahar had an ordinary start to the tournament but came back strongly picking up 4 wickets against KKR. He followed that up yesterday and though there was a bit of dew on the ground he was able to hit the right areas and made batsmen commit mistakes. 3/19 off his 4 overs broke the back of Sunrisers’ middle order from where they were unable to recover.
5. Vijay Shankar came into the Indian set up a couple of years back with a lot of expectations but he never was able to fulfill his potential. You can have a lot of talent, in fact, I believe all human beings are talented but all are not skillful and when it comes to skills you need to practice and you have to keep getting better. Unfortunately, consistency has never been the second name of Vijay Shankar. By his standards he actually did far better yesterday because while bowling he picked up two important wickets of Rohit Sharma and Surya Kumar Yadav and with the bat he scored 28 runs at more than run-a-ball but that was of no use because he couldn’t take the team to victory. He must be terribly disappointed that his good day on the field didn’t turn into a team victory.

The misses:

1. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is one bowler who never takes a bag full of wickets but he is always immaculate in his length and lines which ensures that his economic rate is always good. But 2021 has been a strange one for him. He was in good form while playing against England but in the first 3 matches, he seems to be off colour especially at the death. He is hardly going for runs in the powerplay but in the slog overs, he has been missing the length consistently. Yesterday his last 2 balls went for sixes and that was a big damage for SRH which eventually made a big difference in the final equation.
2. Vijay Shankar had a good match but his one big miss cost Sunrisers dearly and that was the dropped catch off Pollard in the 19th over. It was a pretty simple grab which he fluffed and the final damage that Pollard did to the scoreboard made this particular miss a big one.
3. On record, this is Manish Pandey’s first failure in 2021 but to be fair he has struggled to score quickly. In both, the earlier matches his strike rate was way less than the required run rate so SRH invariably struggled in the end. It would be interesting to see if they replace him with Garg or Jhadav in the next match. It’s a mighty fall for Manish Pandey was part of the Indian XI less than a year ago.

What to look forward to?

The Mumbai juggernaut continues and it would be difficult to stop them from here on. Their batsmen are yet to fire but they are still winning matches. They for sure are going to be one of the top 2 teams this IPL.

For Sunrisers Hyderabad it’s an unknown territory because it’s for the first time that they have lost 3 matches in a row. Sitting at the bottom of the table is not something that they are used to and I am sure it’s going to hurt David Warner a lot. Their losses from seemingly winning positions would be a cause of big concern for the team management. They need to make some changes in their batting line up and this is what I suggest for their next match: David Warner, Johny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jhadav, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, N. Natarajan & Khaleel Ahmed. 

This lineup strengthens their batting and with Jhadav, Shankar, and Samad in the middle order, they will have 3 options for their 5th bowler which I think is more than enough for them. with Kane back they won’t have middle-order meltdowns going forward.

What according to you should be the strategy for Sunrisers? Do write in as we head towards the first doubleheader for this season with RCB taking on KKR in the afternoon.

Are you excited?

P.S. Life is not about showing off. Life is all about spreading love and happiness. So enjoy your Sunday and be thankful for everything that you have in your life. 

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