IPL 2022 | SRH recognised early in the tournament that Abhishek Sharma was going to be important top-order player, says Tom Moody
Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody has said that the team identified Abhishek Sharma as a crucial top-order player for them early in the tournament. Moody also added that his latest knock of 75 runs from 50 balls against Chennai Super Kings will boost his confidence for the remaining matches.
After losing the first two matches of the IPL 2022, Sunrisers Hyderabad won their match against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday. The victory was possible courtesy of an innings of 75 runs from 50 balls by Abhishek Sharma at top of the order. He led the chase of 155 runs and the team won by eight wickets.
Abhishek was mostly used by SRH in the lower order last season but he opened the innings for them in their last two games of the season. SRH didnāt retain Abhishek but they went hard for him at the mega auction this year. He was bought for Rs 6.50 Crore by the franchise. The team came up with the opening combination of Abhishek and Kane Williamson which finally worked for them on Saturday.Ā
The teamās head coach Tom Moody revealed that they identified at the start of the season that the left-hander was going to be an important top-order player.Ā
"We recognised right at the beginning of the tournament and even at the auction that Abhishek was going to be an important player for us at the top of the order," Moody said, reported Cricbuzz.
In spite of two defeats, SRH stuck to their opening combination. They had another opening option in Rahul Tripathi but sticking to same batting order worked for them against CSK.Ā
"We had a long wait between those games [the previous fixture and Saturday's game] and things can be overthought in that time and questions can be asked of any player," Moody admitted.Ā
Abhishek seamlessly shifted gears against CSK and Williamson was able to take his time and play freely due to that, His knock of 75 runs was studded with five boundaries and three sixes. Moody opined that the innings will boost his confidence and hoped that this will be the beginning of a few more big scores.Ā
"He's shown some great signs, he's an exciting young talented player. As we saw today, he delivered. It's good for him that early in the tournament he's managed to get a significant score under his belt and hopefully this is the beginning of a few more big scores," Moody said.