A team that has been optimised for batting-friendly pitches was bound to have their plates full when the going got tough. A template based on last year’s heroics was bound to falter, with other teams now much better acclimatised to counter that ultra-aggressive brand of cricket.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) last season had won five of their first seven games. However, this time around, with their batters blowing hot and cold, the tables seem to have completely turned on them. The two games they have won so far have both come when at least one of their three key batters has shone — Ishan Kishan (106 off 47 balls) versus Rajasthan Royals and Abhishek Sharma (141 off 55 balls) against Punjab Kings.
This guides us to their problem, which stems from the top; Travishek — Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma — struggling to give the team the flying start they desperately desire. Except for the one innings against Punjab Kings, which will skew their stats, the duo has failed to live up to the billing. Kishan, at number three, after his century in the first game, has only one score in double digits.
The pressure from this has cascaded onto the middle and lower middle order. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen, the backbone of their middle order, haven’t been able to take up that load. Reddy has averaged 21 so far at a strike rate of 113.91, while Klaasen’s highest score this season is 37. At the same point last season, Klaasen had three fifty-plus scores.
The difference is quite stark and with sluggish pitches coming up quite often this season, SRH’s hard-hitters seem to be in a spot of bother. Last year, they hit 32 sixes in Powerplays. This year, the number has come down to just 11.
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Additionally, their bowling contingent also hasn’t fared well despite having the likes of captain Pat Cummins, Mohammed Sham and former Purple Cap holder Harshal Patel.
Shami, after seven innings, holds an economy rate of over 10 runs per over with five wickets, four of which came during his 18 Powerplay overs. Cummins too has an economy of over 10, while averaging 36. Patel, on the other hand, has been their best bowler with nine wickets at an average of 21.66 and an economy rate of just over nine. The team lost Adam Zampa early on in the tournament. However, he too wasn’t bowling at his best.
Their bowling unit has conceded three scores of over 200, and one over 190 in the seven innings so far. They have the highest economy rate — 10.74 — this season, while taking the second-fewest wickets (10) in the Powerplay. Their bowlers have conceded the second-most sixes (28) in the first six overs, after Chennai Super Kings (29), this season. They have also registered the least number of dot balls (101) in this edition.
Their strategies and tactics might completely differ from the two teams which currently seem to be down — Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders — but their future in the tournament appears to be heading down the same tunnel as theirs.
On top of this, if towards the fag end of the tournament, Australian and South African players depart to prepare for the World Test Championship final, SRH would be in further trouble.
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