Posts Tagged ‘Kane Williamson’
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Two matches and two losses is what Sun Risers Hyderabad’s resume reads in this season of IPL. In a tournament where teams are breaching 200 for fun SRH have scores of 153 and 142/4 in the two games they have batted so far. SRH have never been a batting team, far from it. They rely a lot on their bowling attack to bail them from shoddy batting displays. Their batting heavily relies on David Warner to score runs. The Australian has seldom disappointed as he has basically carried a weak batting lineup to a title win in 2016.
Jonny Bairstow since joining the franchise has been another great addition to the top order and has done exceedingly well in the games he has played. But after that the SRH batting barring Manish Pandey lacks any sort of punch. Multiple times last season we saw how their batting crumbled after Jonny Bairstow got out. Kane Williamson who does not find a place in the XI probably needs to get a look in to bolster a struggling top order.
SRH bowlers have always been their strength and they do operate in a certain way. The IPL mainly takes place during the summer in India and the slow/rough wickets back home is perfect for the SRH bowlers. Their bowling attack relies a lot on Rashid Khan and the seamers. Bowlers like Sid Kaul who rely a lot on cutters and slower ones are difficult to get away on wickets in India during the summer time. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma give them the breakthrough with the new ball and the spinners led by Rashid Khan choke the opposition in the middle overs.
This has always been their plan in the IPL and they have been fairly successful in their strategy over the years. The big problem for SRH is the pitches in UAE at least at the start of the season. The wickets have been flat with true bounce and batters who can it big have ruled the roost. The fact that captain David Warner hasn’t hit the straps yet has caused SRH to struggle with the run rate. Bairstow has had one good innings but again once he got out like in the 2019 season the SRH batting crumbled.
SRH bowlers need to get back into the groove and quickly assess the conditions and length which will work on them for SRH to come back into the season. They also need to get Kane Williamson in to the XI at number 3. Manish Pandey will bat at number 4 followed by Mohammad Nabi or Vijay Shankar. Wriddhiman Saha in the middle order does not provide any value to SRH and they would benefit from someone who can go after the bowling in that position.
Losing Mitchell Marsh in the first game of the tournament is not the kind of start SRH would have hoped for but again they need to look past that. They have an okay squad and they need to make the most of it. Their bowling attack needs to adjust to the UAE wickets and provide their batter the backing they so wonderfully do back in India. Today’s game isn’t going to be easy as Delhi Capitals are one of the best teams of the tournament but again SRH will be hoping for the openers to get going to help the bowlers with a target they can defend.
SRH XI for tonight’s game:
Jonny Bairstow (Wk), David Warner (C), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma/Basil Thampi
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Shreyas Iyer (Left) and Rishabh Pant (Right) will be crucial for Delhi Capitals in their Eliminator clash against SRH
Delhi Capitals will be wondering what they are doing in the first eliminator after a stellar league phase finishing on 18 points. That’s how good the competition has been this season. Both Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians beat them by just a smidgen to get to the top of the table. This means that DC will take on Sun Risers Hyderabad who have qualified for the play-offs by skin of their teeth. Both teams have had their issues but in this encounter, Delhi Capitals surely start as the overwhelming favourites.
DC’s batting is more settled and their bowling attack has been doing well throughout. Even though missing the purple cap holder Kagiso Rabada will be a huge blow for them, they still have the bowlers to cause trouble to the struggling SRH batting line up. Trent Boult had a good game against Rajasthan Royals and with Ishant Sharma bowling brilliantly with the new ball they have a good attack which can be hand full on their day. The batting has always been DC’s strength though. Their captain Shreyas Iyer has been in great form throughout and even though Rishabh Pant has been inconsistent, he can on his day turn any match on its head. With the experience of Shikhar Dhawan at the top, DC have almost all bases covered and are probably one of the most stable sides of the tournament.
SunRisers Hyderabad will rely on their bowling attack and runs from their captain in their crucial clash against Delhi Capitals
For SRH though, things haven’t been that rosy. They have qualified for the play-offs on 12 points which is the lowest in the history of the IPL so far. Their batting was dragged along by David Warner and Jonny Bairstow through the season and they have struggled for runs since their departure. Their Captain Kane Williamson had a very good game against Royal Challengers Bangalore but again they would need contributions from rest of the batting to put pressure on DC. With Khaleel Ahmed with the new ball along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, their bowling though has looked good but once again their trump card will be Rashid Khan. He has been their go to bowler this season as well and once again will be crucial in the eliminator.
Key Players:
Shreyas Iyer (DC) – The captain of Delhi Capitals has been the linchpin of their batting through the season. He has scored 442 runs this season and has been the cool head in the middle overs guiding the team through some important phases of the game. He will once again be important not only with his batting but also with his captaincy in the field.
Rishabh Pant (DC) – Pant has had a frustrating series with the bat. When you look at his numbers (401 runs at 36 at a SR of 157), it does not look bad but again his temperament has come into question a few times. He does bring an X-Factor to Delhi batting though. If he gets going, it will be difficult for the opposition to stop. DC will be hoping that he has a good day.
Kane Williamson (SRH) – Williamson by his standards has had a very poor season. The 70 runs he scored against RCB was his first 50 of the season which has been very ordinary. Williamson though is a very good captain and he had led SRH to an IPL final last year and his leadership along with some runs at the top will be crucial for SRH to put up a fighting total.
Rashid Khan (SRH) – Rashid is second in the list of wicket takers for SRH but once again he will be the crucial cog in their bowling arsenal this evening. He bowls majority of his overs in the middle phase of the game and picking up wickets during that time will be crucial in restricting DC to a manageable score.
This will be an interesting game and even though Delhi will start as the favourites, we need to keep in mind that they have never won a play-off game yet. They will be under tremendous pressure to achieve what they haven’t in 12 years of this competition. For SRH though they have won IPL before and they were the finalists last year as well. This will be a close game but I feel that DC just has the edge to pull through this one. DC might play the same XI they played in their last league game but SRH might make couple of changes based on the surface.
Possible XI:
Delhi Capitals – Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Rishabh Pant (WK), Colin Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult.
Sun Risers Hyderabad – Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson (C), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi/Billy Stanlake, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi/Siddarth Kaul
Quotes:
“We have to take the confidence from our win against them in Hyderabad. They also beat us in Delhi, so both the teams are fairly confident, and it is going to be a tough match. However, they are also missing some of their players, and we are without Kagiso now, so it is going to be a difficult task as well, but a well-matched encounter” – Shreyas Iyer, Delhi Capitals captain
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