SRH back on their feet again!
SRH turned their swag on and how, a 69 run victory against the Kings eleven Punjab , their biggest margin of victory against the kings in IPL, ensured that they got up to third on the league table.
David Warner and Johnny Baristow first teamed up for SRH in 2019, and were an instant hit. This right and left combo are double trouble for any team. Since they play both spin and pace equally well, they are hard to contain, and both can hit the big shot at will. They are also excellent runners between the wickets. So on a given day when things go their way, opposition teams can find themselves in a spot of bother. And yesterday Kings were at the receiving end.
Bairstow and Warner racked up their fifth hundred partnership in the IPL, eventually finishing at 160. Warner scored 52 off 40 mostly playing second fiddle to Bairstow. Bairstow was unlucky as he got out on 97, scored off just 55 balls. Both wickets picked up by the new kid on the block, leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Kings made a small recovery towards the end, Bishnoi picking up 3 and left arm pacer Arshdeep 2, in the process restricting the Sunrisers to 201. The chase got off to a terrible start with Kings losing both Mayank Agarwal and Prabhsimran Singh within the powerplay, both out due to some good fielding by SRH. Rahul batted with all the pressure of the world on his shoulders, the fluency was missing, he just looked jaded, and eventually departed for 11 off 16, the score 58/3 in 6.4. The constant failure of the team has got to their young captain Rahul. Yesterday he cut a lonely, frustrated figure on the field. If kings have to do well Rahul needs to keep scoring big runs, and not be self loathing as captain.
Pooran though has no such troubles. He batted freely and fluently, hitting sixes at will. During his knock the kings almost believed. But SRH had Rashid in their ranks and he came back for the last over of his spell and dismissed Pooran. Pooran got out after scoring 77 in 37, Rashid finished with 3 for 12 off his 4 overs. That then and there was game, set and match for SRH.
SRH looks like a completely different team when their openers get them off to a flyer and bat deep. But, as you saw with that mini collapse in the middle where they lost 5 wickets for just 15 runs, the SRH middle order is still vulnerable. And on any other day, against a different opposition, SRH would have paid the price for it.
I think SRH’s 5th bowling option is the weak link, though it looked better today than what it really is. Eventually they will have to get Basil Thampi into the playing 11. I know Khaleel has played for India, but his form or performance doesn’t seem to reflect that. Riyan, Abdul, and Abhishek need to take more responsibility in the middle overs, and look to bat till the end.
With Kings though everything looks like a problem. In Maxwell they are supposed to have one of the most destructive bats in the world, but he is dangerous only on paper. In sports your reputation counts for nothing, and if you go out there and not perform, you go home. And it’s time Maxwell went home.
Mandeep should be allowed to settle, not shifted in the batting order continuously, sometimes at 3 sometimes at 6. He was good the other day, not so much today.
The bowlers, specially pacers, look like they just want to not concede runs, the attacking part of their game has just vanished. Kumble, the coach, has to look into it and put some positivity to the attack.
The truth is, Kings will find it extremely difficult to come back from this defeat. This was an opportunity, playing a team which was also been struggling a bit. They lost this opportunity and it will just get tougher from here on. If kings do manage to string together results and manage to qualify into the playoffs, it would be some watch that.
Onto the next.
