Sunrisers Hyderabad have hit a snag at the halfway point of the league phase of IPL 2019 and need a quick turnaround when they host Delhi Capitals on Sunday.
Sunrisers started off brilliantly, riding on the explosive opening partnership of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow and the wily off-spin of Mohammad Nabi. However, their last two games in challenging conditions ended in defeat against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.
The defeat to Mumbai was especially stinging as they were chasing just 137 at home but a rampant Alzarri Joseph – on debut – scalped best ever IPL figures of 6-12 to blow them away for 96.
Their next clash came against Punjab and they lost that too, in a tense chase by Kings XI.
In both games, it was a wobbly top order that exposed the weak middle of Sunrisers. Warner and Bairstow failed to fire in unison and SRH simply had no Plan B. Their remaining batting line up of Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Mohammad Nabi does not scream ‘world-beating batsmen’.
They have a simple solution to all their batting woes – Kiwi captain Kane Williamson.
Williamson had a flare up of the shoulder injury that had required careful management coming into the tournament and after he was forced to sit out because of it in the IPL, Sunrisers found a winning overseas formula in Warner, Bairstow, Nabi and Rashid Khan. But with their batting low on confidence and up against a rampant Delhi pace attack that has Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Ishant Sharma, they will need Kane in the line-up.
Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow or Nabi?
SRH coach Tom Moody confirmed Williamson will be available for the Delhi match. Which means either Bairstow or Nabi will have to sit out as Warner and Rashid will always be first-choice picks.
Both Bairstow and Nabi have been brilliant so far but the former seems on slightly weaker footing as Nabi has been excellent with the ball and offers some runs down the order. Sunrisers can drop any one of their middle order and bring in a proper wicketkeeper like Sreevats Goswami or Wriddhiman Saha to take over from Jonny.
Delhi on a high
The Capitals will be high on confidence following their thumping win over Kolkata Knight Riders. The return to form of opener Shikhar Dhawan – who missed out on a deserved ton by three runs in Kolkata – adds some serious power to an already decent batting line-up and their bowling attack is second to none.
Delhi might be tempted to bring back Sandeep Lamichhane in place of Keemo Paul in Sunday’s clash as the wicket might once again suit wrist spinners.
Likely XIs
SRH: David Warner, Kane Williamson (c), Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Yusuf Pathan, Sreevast Goswami, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma
DC: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane
