SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) are likely to finish with a wooden spoon in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and are virtually out of race to the playoffs, after failing to chase down a paltry target of 126 runs against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Sharjah on Saturday.
In a do-or-die contest, the Hyderabad franchise batsmen lacked intent, barring opener Wriddhiman Saha (31) and all-rounder Jason Holder (47 not out) who stood out with some resilience.
There are plenty of areas where Kane Williamson & co. will need reassessment to comeback stronger in the remainder of the lucrative tournament to restore parity.
Decoding SRH downfall
The horror show for premier Australian opener David Warner (2) continued as he failed to find his feet once again in the contest. The left-handed batsman looked low on morale and lacked his naturally aggressive intent as he was sent packing by Mohammed Shami without troubling the scoreboard much. It looks like he has started the second-leg of the IPL 2021 from where he left. He has, in fact, scored at a strike rate of 108 -- which is his lowest -- in his IPL career and far from his original standards.
His opening partner Jonny Bairstow had pulled out of the second-leg due to the bio-bubble fatigue and to keep himself fresh for the long-winter which includes the T20 World Cup. It also made SRH weaker as an unit and Warner and Bairstow complimented each other and notched up four century stands in IPL 2019. The pair was nothing sort of a nightmare for the opposition bowlers as they took bowlers to the cleaner for fun.
There is a certain concern about SRH captain Kane Williamson as well. The Kiwi top-order batsman has struggled with consistency as he has notched up the scores of 1, 18, 20, 26*, 66*, 16* in the last few innings of IPL 2021. He has looked like a pale shadow of himself and hardly managed to play a captain's knock.
Besides that, Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Kedar Jadhav and Abdul Samad have also not taken charge of the franchise and stepped up at its worst. There is, however, hope in Holder as contributed with the bat and ball for SRH, turning out to be the biggest positive for the franchise against PBKS.
All said and done, the Hyderabad franchise need to regroup and assess their weakness to comeback stronger and restore their pride in IPL 2021.