Dubai: Sunrisers Hyderabad will be hoping to get their bowling on par going into their second match of the Indian Premier League, against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday.
Sunrisers’ loss in their first match of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore was a combination of poor execution and misfortune, to say the least.
To begin with, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who was picked over Mohammad Nabi, could only deliver four balls before walking off injured. Marsh has since been ruled out for the season with the Sunrisers replacing the Australian with West Indies’ skipper Jason Holder.
It now looks more likely that the Sunrisers may prefer giving Afghanistan’s Nabi a chance to bowl alongside countryman Rashid Khan, thus bringing in some added teeth to the bowling department.
Overall, the Hyderabad bowling was impressive in their first match against RCB, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar the stand-out performer. Although the Indian seamer did not pick up any wickets, Bhuvneshwar conceded just 25 runs in his four overs.
Young all-rounder Abhishek Sharma also got to bowl two overs, in which he picked up one wicket conceding 16 runs.
Known to put up a balanced side on the pitch, Hyderabad lacked strength and experience in their middle-order. Needing just 43 runs from last five overs, SRH lost their last seven wickets for 32 runs to lose the game by 10 runs.
One serious area of concern for the Hyderabad team would be a rather fragile middle order. Kane Williamson was expected to shore up the middle, but the Kiwi skipper is yet to recover from his quadriceps injury. He is expected to be ready for Saturday’s match.
Australian David Warner, who took over the SRH captaincy this season, was unfortunate to be run-out at the non-striker’s end in their last match, while both Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey perished off rash shots after getting set in the middle.
Both KKR and Sunrisers are yet to open their accounts in the points table after losing their first games. KKR lost their first match by 49 runs in their match against Mumbai Indians.
