IPL 8 Match Preview: Hyderabad, a win away from play-offs
Warner has led from the front for SRH, scoring 504 runs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (bt KXIP)
What went right: It has to be David Warner if Sunrisers Hyderabad are winning. Yet again, he led from the front, scoring 81 off 52 balls against Kings XI Punjab. Moises Henriques, too, made excellent contributions, putting on 65 runs for the second wicket and then, returning with 3/16 in four overs.
The damage he did in the middle-overs helped Hyderabad win the game, a late assault from David Miller notwithstanding. Bipul Sharma was impressive as well, accounting for the openers, Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra, when they were forging a good partnership.
What Went Right: For once, Hyderabad seamers showed poor control. Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult and Bhuvneshwar Kumar collectively gave away 128 runs in their 12 overs, taking only two wickets. Kumar, however, came back well at the death overs and compensated for Ishant’s profligacy. As for batting, it was the same old story. Hyderabad scored only 28 runs in the last three overs after Warner got out.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (lost to KXIP)
What went wrong: Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the plot in the last game. Batting second in a truncated game, their big guns failed to boom. Their future now hangs in the balance. Maybe Bangalore lowered their guard a little against the bottom-ranked team of the tournament. Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh — all got into the groove but didn’t carry on.
Kohli was outwitted by his rival captain George Bailey. Sending Wriddhiman Saha to open the innings and giving him the licence to thrill was a bold move. Kohli, seemingly, was not prepared for that.
What Went right: Harshal Patel was the standout performer for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last game. The ball was wet, and the medium pacer was bowling to some of the biggest hitters of the game. But even in a slam-bang contest, he stuck to the basics, bowling in the right areas and mixing his slower deliveries with clinical precision.
Conclusion
Sunrisers Hyderabad would have loved to have Kevin Pietersen, especially after his triple ton for Surrey. But a calf injury, suffered during that innings, has all but ended his IPL reunion. The orange army shouldn’t mind though.
They never let Pietersen’s absence affect their performance. With 14 points from 12 matches, they’re probably just one win away from reaching the play-offs.
For Bangalore, it’s almost like a knockout game. Defeat would belie their star-studded talent.
Source:: Indian Express