Another day, another loss for Sunrisers Hyderabad. With an eighth defeat this season, it is safe to say that sun has set on SRH’s campaign in IPL 2021. Sure, mathematically, they are still in contention but it looks pretty bleak. Saturday was another example highlighting how poor batting has cost SRH dearly this year, as they failed to chase down a modest total of 125. The big guns failed and all indications are towards a major overhaul at next year’s IPL mega auction.
Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock analysed SRH’s poor batting and pointed out issues that has been their problem throughout. Of course, there is David Warner’s poor form, but furthermore, it is the repeated failures and selection of two Indian batsmen in the middle-order – Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav – that the former SA pacer is confused with. Pandey scored 13, while Jadhav managed 12 before both were bowled by leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
More than Pandey, it’s Jadhav whose place in the XI has been questioned by Pollock. The India batsman has managed a lowly 55 runs from 6 matches and Pollock reckons it’s high time SRH do something about it.
“In batting, David Warner was out of the side, he’s come back in. You can get into bad form. Manish Pandey tried to regroup given the situation but Kedar Jadhav, over all these years… He gets a decent salary to come out and play. We really are still asking – when is his performance coming to justify his continuous selection in the side? It is difficult to pick out one individual but over a space of eight games, surely people need to be producing more than what we’ve seen,” he said on Cricbuzz.
While Pollock believes it is hard to knuckle down to one particular aspect as to why SRH’s campaign went awry, he feels it is important for head coach Trevor Bayliss and the rest of the coaching staff, including VVS Laxman and Muttiah Muralitharan, address the issues that have been ailing the unit for long.
“It is hard for the coaching staff to say anything because the environment you live in, it is supposed to be a family environment. It is difficult to have a go at players at times. But there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. (Trevor) Bayliss is supposed to be a fantastic guy, everyone loves him and talks about what a good coach he is,” Pollock said.
