IPL 2021: Kane Williamson needs time to gain match fitness - SRH coach Trevor Bayliss

Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their opening IPL 2021 match to Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday (April 11) by 10 runs and many familar issues cropped up for the side. An overeliance on certain individuals and an inconsistent middle-order remains a thorn in the side. An obvious solution, therefore, would be to play Kane Williamson. The New Zealand skipper would add runs and solidity in the middle. However, he was left out of the side for the opener, a decision that perplexed many fans. After the match, SRH coach Trevor Bayliss said that Williamson needed more time to get to full match fitness before he was included in the playing XI.

“Yeah, we felt that Kane Williamson needed a bit of extra time to get his match fitness a little bit more time in the nets. He would have then played in place of Jonny Bairstow.

“Obviously, Jonny Bairstow is in form recently in white-ball cricket in India. It was nice to see him get a 50 or so.

“Depending on fitness and form, Jonny Bairstow can open the batting. He has done well for England at no. 4 recently. But Kane certainly come into the calculation as the tournament unfolds.”

‘Vijay was good in practice’

Bayliss also explained why Abdul Samad was not sent in ahead of Vijay Shankar.

“Vijay was in practice session was one of the best players. He struck the balls beautifully and in one of the matches, he scored 95 runs and hit the balls a long way over the fence.

“But it was difficult to execute it in the first match. However he’s got talent and he’ll get more experience and opportunities.”

Having won the toss, SRH then put KKR in to bat first. Half-centuries from Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi meant the Knights posted a competitive 187 in the first innings.

In reply, SRH came close thanks to some late hitting from Samad. However, they never looked likely to overhaul the target.