OPINION
Follow UsPerhaps it’s too premature. Perhaps judgements aren’t meant to be passed after just one game. Over the years, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) itself, far too many ‘finished’ teams have made the world eat humble pie after being written off. Hello there, Chennai Super Kings. You’re still fresh in our memories.
So as we prepare to rinse the Sunrisers Hyderabad, it is important to keep in mind that things can change quickly. Especially in a format like T20, where momentum is everything. As we observed in the preview prior to the Rajasthan clash, there is no paucity of talent in the Sunrisers franchise; it is a side filled with burgeoning talents who have incredibly high ceilings.
But there are losses, and there are losses. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 61-run defeat against the Royals on Tuesday felt like more than a loss. It had the appearance of a four-hour broadcast that seemed to pin-point and highlight everything the team’s think-tank had done wrong prior to the season.
At the auction table, there was many a moment in which the Sunrisers’ strategy flabbergasted the viewers. After two days of bidding, the general consensus was that they'd acquired far too many talented support players, purely banking on potential, and not enough proven bankers. It was hard to look at the squad and pluck out one area as a ‘strong’ domain.
The team’s performance against the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday pretty much ended up validating this argument: while there were undeniable flashes of brilliance, equally there were far too many holes, and far too much inexperience, that was there to be exploited. And exploit Rajasthan did, being the quality side they are.
Nothing summarizes Sunrisers as a side better than its pace department. It has skill. It has talent. It has variety. It has spice. It has enormous potential. We saw glimpses of everything in patches in the first innings, be it the first over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, or Romario Shepherd’s nigh on perfect start to his IPL career (2-0-7-1), or the rockets delivered by Umran Malik that seemed to petrify Devdutt Padikkal.
Ultimately, however, there is no guarantee of consistency and reliability — two components essential for sustained success. We witnessed this today as for all pacers in the side, the wheels came off at some point in the innings.
On the pace front, at least, the Sunrisers have enough depth and potential, even if it is high on inexperience. On Tuesday, Rajasthan — Samson, in particular — exposed just how feeble the team’s spin department is; it is basically Washington Sundar or bust.
At the auction, not only did SRH splash INR 8.75 crore on Sundar, they chose not to purchase another capped spinner, Indian or overseas. Samson and Rajasthan showed the world why SRH blundered by doing so as they gave Sundar the beating of his life, collecting 47 runs off the 18 balls he bowled. Once the onslaught began, Williamson and SRH had nowhere to go. Literally.
The fear for Sunrisers and Williamson, going forward, is teams taking a leaf out of Rajasthan’s book and employing the same tactics — to consciously target Sundar. For one, neither Samad nor Abhishek Sharma are good enough to cover-up for the off-spinner. We witnessed it today as young Abhishek’s attempt to be the team’s savior fell flat, with him conceding 15 runs off the solitary over he bowled.
Alarmingly though, there are no reliable, equally-able options on the bench too, the Karnataka duo of Shreyas Gopal and Jagadeesha Suchith being the only alternatives. The depth in the spin department (or rather, the lack of) is certainly a huge cause for concern.
You would think that batting is relatively SRH’s ‘strongest’ suit, thanks to the presence of Williamson, Pooran, Markram and Tripathi. While this is true, the Rajasthan clash did still highlight just how much the batting unit is reliant on the stability Williamson provides. The skipper perished in the very second over, and immediately the innings lacked its sense of direction.
With the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Pooran, Tripathi and Samad, one does get the sense that, much like the pace department, far too much hinges on potential. Even though there will undoubtedly be days in which individuals will win the team games on their own, it will never be an area that can be banked on.
Compare this to Rajasthan, who, like SRH, went into the auction with the mindset of doing a complete reset with the aim of building a team capable of competing for the title. Again, in RR’s case too, it is hard to make predictions after one game, but what’s evident is that, though not perfect, it is a side with clear strengths. It has a world-class top-order, an internationally-proven finisher and an all-round bowling attack filled with proven, experienced campaigners.
In complete contrast to the Sunrisers, the Royals have built a team of bankers, with the younger, inexperienced players merely filling the holes.
What is evident from what unfolded at the MCA stadium is this: one team has learnt from its mistakes in the previous cycle, has rebooted itself admirably and looks likely to challenge for a play-off spot. Spoilers: it is not the team that lost.
