Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have managed to spark a stunning turnaround in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with five wins on the trot after losing their first two matches in a row. The Kane Williamson-led side got off to a shaky start in the tournament in what looked like a repeat of their disastrous campaign last year.
However, they staged an incredible comeback which started with a comprehensive win against Chennai Super Kings in their third game of the season. SRH have since remained unbeaten in the tournament and have now jumped to the second spot on the points table with ten points from seven matches so far this season.
In their last game against RCB, SRH bundled out Faf du Plessis & Co. for a paltry 68 to thrash them by 9 wickets. RCB recorded the lowest ever total in the ongoing season after an exceptional bowling effort from SRH, who have managed to formulate a settled bowling attack despite releasing Rashid Khan earlier this year.
Many had criticised SRH for not retaining Rashid, who is one of the best T20 bowlers in the world at present and had been a prolific wicket-taker for the franchise since his IPL debut in 2017. However, SRH’s current batting coach Brian Lara believes the franchise was right in letting the Afghanistan spinner go.
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Lara said batters had started defending against Rashid and he was no more a wicket-taker which made the spinner less effective for SRH. “I have great respect for Rashid Khan but I believe we have the right combination. Rashid Khan was someone who opposition teams decided to defend against, he was not much of a wicket-taker,” Lara said after SRH’s win over RCB on Saturday.
“Yes (economy of) 5.5-6 runs per over is great, but I think when you have a guy like Washington Sundar spinning the ball into the left-handers in the first six overs, he is an asset. Suchith has come in as his replacement due to injury and he is an asset as well,” Lara added.
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After releasing Rashid, SRH went for Washington Sundar, Jagadeesha Suchith and Shreyas Gopal to bolster their spin attack ahead of IPL 2022. While Sundar impressed in the few matches he played for the franchise before getting injured, Suchith has been bowling well after finding a spot in the playing XI as Sundar’s replacement.
Suchith picked up two wickets while conceding only 12 runs off his 3 overs against RCB in SRH’s last outing and is cementing his spot in the side steadily. However, it’s not the spinners who have impressed the most for SRH as pacers Umran Malik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Marco Jansen have been among the wickets consistently.
