NEWS
Follow UsFollowing a 54-run loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Tom Moody says that he is unwilling to tinker with the middle-order despite the opening combination consisting of Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson not faring too well at the top.
SRH have the option of opening with either Rahul Tripathi or even Aiden Markram, but Moody is adamant they are doing well in their respective positions. Williamson, especially, has had a tournament to forget, having scored just 208 runs from 12 innings at a poor strike-rate of 92.85, but Moody has thrown his weight behind his captain.
"Well, Rahul Tripathi has batted exceptionally well at three and Markram has been one of the leading batters in the tournament at four, so, we felt that why change something that's working for something that's not working. We have always backed and trusted Kane," Moody said in the post-match press conference.
"There's no question of his world-class quality, so that's why we haven't made that move. Because, as we've seen throughout the tournament, there's a couple of areas of our batting that has been functioning really well.
"That is Abhishek Sharma at the top of the order, Tripathi at three, Markram four and Pooran five."
Moody further adds that his side has lost a bit of confidence in their bowling department owing to injuries to Washington Sundar and T Natarajan.
"Obviously that wasn't pre-planned at all. We were planning on bowling Washington probably before the 16th over, but the timing of when Andre Russell came to the crease and just the way the overs unfolded, we felt that it was a higher priority to try to remove Russell, take his wicket and then bring Washington back into the attack," Moody said.
"But we never removed him, so it always ended up having to push him to the back end. You know, I think, whether it was Washington or any bowler for that matter, you know, being hit for 20 off the last over with Andre Russell at the crease is not the first time that's happened.
"So don't put that down to bowler error. That's just one of those circumstances that we were tactically trying to get Russell out and therefore we could (had to) realign our bowling for the last few overs.
"I thought today was a lot better with the ball. Apart from obviously the backend, there were a few that got away but when you've got a world class hitter like Russell set the crease, he's always going to be a threat. He's done it year in, year out.
"So, I thought that generally, any total around that 170 mark was a pretty good bowling performance."
With this loss, SRH find themselves in eighth position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 table and their chances of making it to the playoffs is more or less over. However, they will look to keep fighting as they look to overcome a five-match losing streak when they take on Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday (May 17) at the Wankhede Stadium.
