Virender Sehwag, the former India batsmen reckons that IPL teams have to adapt to taste success. He advised teams to embrace changes if they have to succeed in the tournament. His comments came soon after Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 10-run (SRH) loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. The tournament began on a wrong note for SRH as they went down chasing 188 against KKR at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
SRH’s botched up run-chase:
Kolkata Knight Riders set a steep target of 188 after put into bat. SRH had a task on their hands chasing such a mammoth score. They lost both the openers cheaply. David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha departed with the score reading 10-2. Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey then stitched a useful partnership. Bairstow was dismissed after scoring 55 off 40 balls. His dismissal derailed SRH’s run-chase. Mohammad Nahi and Vijay Shankar couldn’t really land lusty blows. Abdul Samad who walked in at number 7 smoked two sixes off Pat Cummins to keep SRH’s hopes alive. But Andre Russell bowled a fine last over to quash SRH’s heist.
Manish Pandey’s stat-padding innings:
SRH failed to accelerate at the right moment. As soon as Bairstow was dismissed, Manish Pandey had to take over the role of aggressor. He was instead playing second fiddle to batters who walked in late. Pandey in fact failed to score a single boundary right until the last ball. Sehwag took a dig at Pandey’s innings. He wasn’t impressed with the way Manish Pandey approached the run-chase. Sehwag felt that a player’s stat-padding innings doesn’t help the team’s cause.
Virender Sehwag takes a dig at Manish Pandey:
Sehwag tweeted saying, “Teams that will have stat-padding batsmen end up batting long overs without changing gears quickly will struggle. Depriving hitters and finishers by leaving very few balls and making it very difficult. Happened last year, and such teams will struggle always.”
Teams that will have stat padding batsmen end up batting long overs without changing gears quickly will struggle. Depriving hitters and finishers by leaving very less balls and making it very difficult. Happened last year, and such teams will struggle always #IPL
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 11, 2021
David Warner’s observations:
SRH skipper, David Warner observed that “I didn’t think there were that many runs on this wicket. They adapted really well, had a good partnership. We failed to execute the first ball of most overs and then conceded a lot at the end. We lost early wickets, and Jonny and Manish got us in a good position, so we had our chances.” He went on to add that, “The dew made a difference. If the bowlers over pitched, it was easy to hit it, and with the height in their team, and with the cross-seam, it stopped a little bit on us.”
