Middle order can’t be questioned due to one failure, says Sandeep Sharma

04/09/2019

Sandeep Sharma has stated that Sunrisers Hyderabad’s middle order is talented, and it cannot be questioned due to one failure, referring to the encounter against Mumbai Indians. The pacer has also blamed the dew in the field for SRH’s six-wicket loss against Kings XI Punjab on Monday.

Going into the match against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, the opening pair of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jonny Bairstow and David Warner, had scored the bulk of the runs in all the four matches, with three century stands. The only fear was their middle order which had got a very less game time. During the chase, MI dismissed both the openers cheaply, and the Orange Army’s fears came alive, as the batting collapsed to get wrapped up for a total of 96, and handed an easy win for the opponents. However, young pacer Sandeep Sharma is of the opinion that one game cannot form a judgement about the relatively experienced middle order.

"The fact is that our opening pair has been batting so good that middle order was not tested. Even in this game, Warner played through, only in one game the middle order collapsed and from one game alone an opinion cannot be formed. We have talented batsman in middle order -- Yusuf Pathan, Mohd Nabi, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey,” said Sandeep, reported PTI.

In Monday’s match against Kings XI Punjab, SRH were clearly struggling with that bat in the first ten overs, as Warner had scored 20 off 30 deliveries, and they could only score 50 runs. But they made a comeback in the latter half of their innings and posted a respectable 150 on the board. But with the dew on the field, the Sunrisers’ bowling attack had their work cut out.

Despite that, Rashid Khan dismissed big-hitting Chris Gayle in the third over for 16 runs, but a 100 run partnership between KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal nearly sealed the match for KXIP. The equation had come down to only 19 runs required in three overs, with 9 wickets remaining. However, Sandeep struck back with two wickets in the 18th over, followed by Siddharth Kaul’s strike in the 19th over. This took the equation to 11 runs off the last over, but unfortunately for SRH, they lost with one ball to spare. The Patiala pacer justified the loss by pointing out towards the dew factor.

"It had rained in the morning, wicket had moisture because of which batting was a bit tough. In the end (when SRH was bowling) heavy dew was a big factor, the ball was getting wet. The batting (KXIP) was easy in the second half than the first half,” explained the 25-year-old.

The pacer shared that the plan was to scalp wickets by generating swing, but dew played the spoilsport. He also did not fail to acknowledge KL Rahul’s match-winning knock of 71 in 53 deliveries.

"With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and me as swing bowlers, the plan was to take wickets, but in second half heavy dew caused problem. As the match progressed, we tried to remain in contest, we tried to take wickets, but at the end of the day K L (Rahul) played a match-winning knock,”

The pacer was positive that the team will come strong after a fairly long break, before they play their next game against Delhi Capitals on April 14.

"We will rectify our mistakes, and hopefully, we will bounce back in the next games," signed off Sharma.