David Warner struggled with his batting and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fifth loss in six games means they are all but out of the playoff reckoning.
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David Warner had created history when he became the first player to hit 50 fifties in the IPL. In the match against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi, he hit 200 sixes and also went past 10,000 Twenty20 runs. When one looks at these numbers, many would have assumed that Warner had a brilliant match. But, the numbers hide a worrying aspect. The Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper struggled to get going, with his strike rate below 100 for half of the innings. There were plenty of dot balls and gaps could not be found.
When he hit his second six, his strike rate went past 100. His fifty took exactly 50 balls and it was his slowest half-century ever. It took aggressive knocks from Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson to help Sunrisers Hyderabad reach 171/3. However, Chennai Super Kings chased the target down in ease with Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring 75 and Faf du Plessis smashing 56. With this loss, Sunrisers Hyderabad are languishing at the bottom and are all but out of the playoff reckoning, with the team needing to win seven out of their next games.
Speaking after the match, Warner took full responsibility for the loss. “I take full responsibility for the way I batted. It was really slow and found a lot of fielders. I probably hit 15 good shots to the fielders, I couldn’t do much about it. They are the ones that make or break your innings. It gets frustrating as a batsman when you find the fielders. I soaked up too many balls,” Warner said.
Warner’s slow knock also masked up the misjudgment of making Kane Williamson bat at No.4. The New Zealand skipper smashed 26 off 10 balls and it was the onslaught on Shardul Thakur and Sam Curran that helped Sunrisers Hyderabad reach 171. Warner said Williamson was going to bat at No.4 but it was his knock that spoiled the plans.
“He (Kane) was going to bat four no matter what, that’s where he bats, that is his job. We had 170 on the board but we couldn’t take powerplay wickets and it’s always tough (to come back) on a good surface like this. Their two openers batted really well, but we fought well in the end. I felt like you could squeeze a bit after those wickets. They were ahead in the game,” Warner said.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Rajasthan Royals in a day-game on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley stadium. A loss in that match could keep them confined to the bottom.
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