Till April 25, 2014, Sunrisers Hyderabad, which was thought to be one of the most balanced franchises on show, had gone without a win. However, when it mattered the most, the team from Hyderabad was able to show its true mettle and clinch a crucial win by 4 runs against an equally beleaguered Delhi Daredevils at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Team composition: Hyderabad made just one change from the team that competed against Punjab. The team left out Irfan Pathan and included Naman Ojha in order to lengthen the batting line up. Delhi made a number of changes to the team that lost against Chennai in its last match. Mayank Agarwal, Ross Taylor, Jimmy Neesham and Nathan Coulter-Nile were left out and in came skipper Kevin Pietersen, in his first match after injury, Quinton de Kock, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Wayne Parnell.
Batting: SRH won the toss and opted to bat first. They reached a good total of 184 for just one wicket. Much of the credit for this significant total goes to Aaron Finch who scored 88 from 53 balls and David Warner who gave him fantastic company with 58 from 45 balls. Together they raised 128 runs for the second wicket, which must be among the biggest of its kind in the history of the tournament.
Replying to the good total, DD reached 180 for 4 in their allotted overs. They got off to an excellent start with Vijay (52 from 40 balls) and de Kock (48 from 30 balls) raising 99 in the opening stand. However, the failure of the middle order really put paid to their ambitions of winning their second game in the tournament.
Bowling: The bowlers from both the teams had an eminently forgettable match and together 12 bowlers were able to pick up only 5 wickets. For Delhi, Shahbaz Nadeem was easily the best bowler with 1 for 24. All the other bowlers were ineffective in picking up wickets or checking the flow of runs at least.
The Hyderabad bowlers performed much better than their Delhi counterparts. Dale Steyn (2 for 33) was the best bowler on view and his telling strikes effectively tilted the balance in Sunrisers’ favor. Karn Sharma (1 for 23) also bowled really well and Sammy picked up a wicket (1 for 34 from 3 overs).
Where do the teams go from here?
Sunrisers Hyderabad would be happy with how it has been able to turn things around. They have been able to find a balanced combination that can win them some matches down the line but may not ultimately help them win the championship. For them the 6th bowler would be a major problem area if Sammy does not fire or is unable to bowl in one match. Maybe, they should think of bringing in someone like Parvez Rasool instead of Lokesh Rahul and make the side more balanced that way.
Delhi Daredevils played well in the last match but once again was a bowler short. Neesham needs to be back in the side and Duminy needs to be left out. With Pietersen back in the team, perhaps playing 2 overseas batsmen should do the trick for Delhi. If Neesham is played then KP can bring in Saurav Tiwary who has previously performed well for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, and leave out Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Whatever be the reason for him not getting a game so far, he needs to be brought back because his skills are suited to this version of the game.
