SRH skipper Pat Cummins celebrates after Bhuvneshwar Kumar strikes against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
The loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru seemed like a blip but the thrashing Sunrisers Hyderabad took at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on Sunday is certainly a cause of concern. The Chepauk clash promised to be a close affair but ended in capitulation from Pat Cummins’ men. The home encounter against red-hot Rajasthan Royals on Thursday now assumes added significance.
The Indian Premier League is a long tournament that not only tests the players physically but also mentally due to a gruelling schedule. This has resulted often in teams that start well or seem destined for the playoffs in the first half, getting completely derailed and losing their playoff berth.
As of now, only Rajasthan Royals (16 points from nine games) seem almost certain to make the playoffs. There are several other teams in the running, but SRH is the most vulnerable among those because of their upcoming schedule coming up and the absence of solid Indian players in the middle order who can tackle spin in the middle overs. The RCB spinners, defending 206 runs, spun a web and picked five wickets. Though CSK’s Ravindra Jadeja picked only a solitary wicket, he kept a lid on the scoring rate in the middle overs which forced the batsmen to take chances against death-overs specialist Matheesha Pathirana.
Teams which have suffered IPL’s 2nd half syndrome in last five years
| Year | Team | 1st seven games | 2nd seven games |
| 2018 | Punjab Kings | 5 wins 2 losses | 1 win 6 losses |
| 2019 | Punjab Kings | 4 wins 3 losses | 2 wins 5 losses |
| 2020 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 4 wins 3 losses | 3 wins 4 losses |
| 2021 | Rajasthan Royals | 3 wins 4 losses | 2 wins 5 losses |
| 2022 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 5 wins 2 losses | 1 win 6 losses |
| 2023 | Rajasthan Royals | 4 wins 3 losses | 3 wins 4 losses |
On the day Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma click, SRH blast out oppositions in the Powerplay. However, that has not been the case in the last couple of games, which has exposed the middle order and the absence of an experienced Indian batsman who can manipulate the field with Aiden Markram and set the game up for Henrich Klaasen in the final overs.
The likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed and Abdul Samad are competent players of spin bowling. Klaasen and Markram smashed spinners when wickets were conducive for batting earlier in the tournament. But as the tournament gets into May with the mercury rising, wickets will slow down and start to grip which would need a more skilful player to combat the conditions.
Travis Head celebrates scoring fifty against Delhi Capitals alongside his opening partner, Abhishek Sharma. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
However, SRH assistant coach Simon Helmot, when asked if the side has any trouble playing spin, said: “Our play of spin has been pretty good so far in the tournament but they (CSK) got on top of us in the last match, in particular.”
“We know… in making big scores, partnerships are key. We just missed some of those match-winning partnerships which we have had in some of the earlier matches. So we are not overly worried but certainly aware of what we need to try and do in those middle overs.”
SRH do have the option of Rahul Tripathi and Mayank Agarwal on the bench, players who have the experience of representing India and are good players of spin bowling. But they have had a bad start to the season. When asked if Mayank would be brought back into the side to add some Indian experience to the batting core, Helmot was non-committal. “That’s always a very tough one in tournament cricket. We have depth on the bench with guys like Mayank and Tripathi. We look at the opposition, conditions and what’s the best balanced side for us to tackle this opposition.”
The ability to play spin well will be especially crucial against the table-topping Royals would also acknowledge Royals do possess good spin bowlers in Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin.
As always and like with every team, the travel schedule is hectic. Within a space of two weeks, Sunrisers would have to play three home games (against RCB, RR and Lucknow Super Giants) and travel back and forth to Chennai and Mumbai.
The coming week might decide if this SRH side, which left everyone in awe in the first part of the tournament, has it in them to make an impact at the business end of the tournament.
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