SRH’s gamble with Hinge, Hussain paid off, it must now aim for more consistency

The induction of two untried young bowlers, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, worked wonders for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in its last match against Rajasthan Royals. As is well known, fast bowlers hunt in pairs. SRH seems to have unearthed two young lions who worked in tandem to destroy the all-conquering Rajasthan Royals. The Royals were looking for an easy victory, but instead they came crashing down to their first defeat in the ongoing IPL season, and an ignominious one at that.

SRH had managed just one win in their first four games, so something had to be done. They took a risk by dropping the experienced pace duo of Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat. Harshal had been wicketless in three matches with an economy rate above 12, while Unadkat had picked four wickets but leaked runs at nearly 11 runs per over. So quite rightly, they were axed.

Duo must sustain momentum

But now the main task before SRH is to sustain the momentum. With memorable IPL debuts on the same night, Hinge and Hussain’s journeys have found a common thread. They complement each other well and it now remains to be seen where the pace-bowling duo goes from here. 

Sadly, cricket history is full of stories of debutants who made a grand beginning but soon faded away. The same should not happen to these two. Often, the reason for the quick downfall lies in the mind. The pressure of having to live up to their first performance can create a huge problem in anyone’s psyche. Both Hinge and Hussain must consider every match as a fresh beginning.

Their next task is to introduce more variations in their bowling. It is also important to be accurate. Towards the end of his spell against the Rajasthan Royals, Hinge seemed to be straying just a bit in line and length. When the ball stops swinging, it is line and length that will determine whether a bowler succeeds or fails.  

Next battle against CSK

The next match for SRH is the one against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) that is coming up on Saturday, April 18. Although CSK is currently placed in the bottom half of the points table, it has potential. The Chennai team’s primary strengths lie in a robust batting line-up that features Sanju Samson, Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan and Shivam Dube. Their well-set bunch of all-rounders provides the team with a significant amount of tactical flexibility.

If Hinge and Hussain can contain players like Sanju, Mhatre and Sarfaraz, it may be an indication that the pace bowlers are here to stay. And that their first performance was not a flash in the pan.

No doubt it will be a tall task. But in order to curb the big hitters of CSK, the SRH pace attack should try to hit the deck and extract more bounce and movement. Sanju Samson, if given room, can become a destroyer. But if Hinge can cramp Sanju by bowling accurately, the battle may go in favour of the SRH pacer.

A few days ago, Heinrich Klaasen, analysing his own team’s performances, said, “Our batting has been good so far, but we missed out about 40 runs in three of our early games. We need to bat better. The bowlers, especially the pacers, have been fantastic. However, our fielding has been poor and that’s what is affecting us. I will give us 6 out of 10 so far. We played some brilliant cricket in phases, but we have to be consistent in all games.”

So these are the areas where SRH needs to work on. First of all, make the fielding a lot better. In batting, SRH has a top-heavy batting lineup, which has not worked as well as expected. Klaasen has been the best of the SRH batters so far. He has scored 224 runs in five matches at an average of 44.80 and a strike rate of 142.68. He has two 50-plus knocks to his credit so far. 

Then comes Ishan Kishan with 213 runs at a strike rate of 190.18. But after that, we see a steep drop. Third is Abhishek Sharma, whose strike rate is good (215.0), but his aggregate is only 129 in five matches. So, the overall picture is that the SRH batsmen need to be more consistent. 

In bowling, if Hinge and Hussain can carry out their demolition routine in a regular manner, then the attack can be formidable. Both are young and full of fire. But they are inexperienced and have to take care not to become overconfident. This is where SRH chief coach Daniel Vettori and bowling coach Varun Aaron must play a big role in guiding these youngsters to fulfil the potential that they showed in their very first match.