SRH’s batting collapse highlights persistent bowling issues

SRH has been solidly consigned to the bottom of the table after three crushing losses. Bowling coach James Franklin has stated that there is currently insufficient justification to deviate from the batting plans, despite the fact that it has followed poor bat and ball performances.

The toss brought a smile to the faces of both captains, Pat Cummins and Ajinkya Rahane, for different reasons.

“How would you rate the pitch?”

“Looks like a good surface,” remarked Cummins with a smile, after he paused for a moment before claiming, “but I’m terrible at reading it.”

Rahane couldn’t help but admit, yet he continued the smile-and-hestitate pattern. “I’m quite pleased with the pitch; it looks good. It will work well for our spinners. You ought to receive what you desire at home.

The home team was given a surface that hadn’t been watered in the previous five days, ending the acrimonious dispute between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Eden Gardens’ pitch curator. Their strength, the spin assault, was supposed to be enhanced by the dry surface.

But on Thursday night, the game was already heavily skewed in KKR’s advantage before their spinners could actually start playing. Following their 200-run total, Sunrisers Hyderabad was reduced to 9 for 3 in three overs by their pacers, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, on a slowish surface.

It was the worst beginning for SRH since they adopted their boom-or-bust strategy. The middle order put up a little fight, but they were unable to go close enough to pose a real threat to KKR’s total. With 94 runs required at the end of the 14th over and Heinrich Klaasen making progress, there was, at most, a chance for a miracle.

That also quickly faded, and they were ultimately bundled out for 120. In the previous three games, a club that very confidently indicated that they will chase down the 300-point total this season and even got close to it in the opening game has busted more often than boomed.

“You don’t want to detract from our top order’s natural purpose and batting style because, as we’ve seen many times in the past year, it’s amazing when it’s working and hasn’t worked in the last few games. They see the ball, they hit it, they are aware of their own game plans and preferred batting technique, and it’s likely a mix of these factors that aren’t working for them right now.

“I believe that everyone had the strong impression that we were simply continuing in the same manner as we batted last year. Even though it hasn’t worked in the last two games—we were very close to 200 in the second game—that can occasionally be the way we play the game and how our batters, in especially, prefer to play it. The game is what we want them to play.

“So yes, whilst it hasn’t been our best stuff these last two games, we’ve got every confidence within our group and within the individuals within our group to go out and play that attacking brand that I think we know and we’ve shown from an SRH point of view over this last year or so.”

However, the hitters’ recent failure has brought to light a much-older issue in their other department: bowling.

Aside from their unusual top-order mishap on Thursday, their performance in the final overs—allowing 78 runs in the final five overs—also contributed to their early position in the run chase. In addition to changing the momentum, it drove KKR to a score that was beyond SRH’s capacity, even if they managed to rally from that stage of the run-chase.

The SRH pacers did not capitalise on the conditions on a surface where the ball was clinging and stopping a little, making it difficult to make shots, as Venkatesh Iyer acknowledged. They became predictable with their variations and bowled too full too frequently. At a time when KKR still had Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, and Moeen Ali to follow, Venkatesh took full advantage of their mercies and was free to swing his bat around.

SRH bowling coach James Franklin said it was a combination of the bowlers’ poor execution and assessment.

“I mean, 65 [66] off that last four overs probably reflects that we didn’t get it quite right,” acknowledged Franklin. “I believe KKR was 84 for two at the midway point. We possibly could have held them to 170 and 180 if we had played the back ten overs correctly.

“As a coach, there are moments when you sit back and ask yourself, ‘Well, could we have done things a little bit better, could we have technically been a little bit braver with some aspects of it?’ We’ll obviously have those conversations in the days leading up to our next game on Sunday. We didn’t get it quite right, and the execution wasn’t quite there.

“I suppose it’s a reflection of me and the people that were there, and we’ll undoubtedly try to return better, especially with that execution of death. However, I believe that the first three quarters of our bowling innings were quite good up until that moment. You may once more look at a lot of things and wish you had more time. That’s how the game works.

However, it is neither a recent issue for SRH nor an isolated incident in their generally excellent achievements. The success of SRH’s powerful batsmen had been covering up the bowling’s flaws for some time. They had the worst average of all the bowling groups in the competition last season, and they had the second-worst economy rate (behind the Delhi Capitals). With 19 wickets from four games this season, they presently have the poorest economy rate (10.83), while the Rajasthan Royals are the only team to surpass their average of 41.15 (46.69).

It might be explained in part by the characteristics of their surface at home. Similar to this, the way they bat also forces the other teams to take a similar stance in return. Additionally, SRH’s bowlers will inevitably endure the same treatment that their hitters give to the opposing bowlers on surfaces where bowlers have little support.

According to Franklin, the bowlers will continue to be the targets of the opponent’s attack if they do want to stick with the extremely aggressive batting strategy in spite of their recent setbacks. On days like Thursday, when the batting could implode in their high-risk, high-reward strategies, they will eventually need to find a way to improve their games, if not win them, on their own.

Franklin is optimistic that the club can turn things around in the next few days, despite the recent setbacks. “The group is clearly a little frustrated, but we’re still [in] the early stages of this IPL, and we have a lot of talented players that can definitely make things better. “So yeah,” he summarised, “just a frustrating day.”