IPL 2016: Brad Hodge believes powerplay failures are an area of concern for Gujarat Lions

The new franchise in the current edition of the Indian Premier League, Gujarat Lions, are placed right on top in the points table, with 6 wins in 9 games. Gujarat Lions (GL) looked unbeatable at the start of the season, with Dwayne Smith and McCullum giving them fiery starts.

After losing two consecutive games at home, Gujarat Lions coach Brad Hodge has admitted there were "quite a few areas of concern". GL are losing momentum at a crucial stage in the tournament. The batsmen need to work on their shot selection and try to build partnerships to keep the momentum going.

Lack of partnerships, and losing too many wickets in the powerplay- they lost three wickets in eight balls and faltered at 24 for 3 after four overs – resulted in the Lions’ eight-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils. It was the same scenario in their previous match against Kings XI Punjab, where they had slipped to 39 for 4 within seven overs.

"If you are 3 for 20 [sic], losing three of your best batters upfront, you're going to be in trouble. Same [as] what happened the last game. In the last game against Kings, Axar [Patel] took a hat-trick. Couple of balls didn't even turn.

“We lost three wickets in an over. And again [today], three wickets in seven [sic] balls with three of our best batters. Wickets in powerplay… something that we need to look at", said Hodge to the reporters at the post-match press conference.

Hodge also voiced his displeasure on how the no-balls have cost his side crucial wickets in the tournament. In a short format like T20, the game does not take long to turn around in favour of the opposition. The fielders and bowlers have to be at their best, and cling on to every opportunity to break the momentum of the opponents.

Ravindra Jadeja’s no-ball in the 16th over last night, spared Sanju Samson his wicket, and Delhi went on to win the game with ease. Similarly, in the game against Pune, Shivil Kaushik bowled Smith off a no-ball on 41, and he went on to score a century.

"Unforgiveable, unforgivable! Who knows what could've happened if that was given out for Sanju. Next ball he gets a free hit, the ball goes for a boundary, game over. If you're just going to let your guard down for a moment, you're going to be found out. Hopefully, we can dust ourselves off and adjust with the differences and indifferences that we have and come again strongly. I would certainly hope that these last two games [don’t] hurt very much."

Our top order has enough power to attack the opposition

The coach backed his top order to attack the opposition with their batting, further strengthened by the return of Aaron Finch post his injury. Although, he said, their shot-selection needs to be more prudent.

"They are free spirited players. They are natural stroke-players and I don't want to certainly take that away from them," he said. "But we certainly just have to have a little watch at our shot selection and adapt to the conditions a little bit better. They are just little tweaks. I don't want to rein in those guys when their strike rate is 170, certainly going to encourage that, but more so to adapt to conditions a little bit better."

Hodge also commented on the pitch being a little slow, and difficult to bat on.

"It was not ideal. I must say the surface exactly wasn't what we were looking for. It is a little disappointing. This is your home ground, you expect a little bit better. But having said that, you cannot use that as an excuse. The opportunity was there.

"If we could've put 170-175 on the board, we could've won that game. Again, we were chasing only 155 the other day against Kings and we couldn't get the job done. We can't blame any of the surface or the practice. Our skill set was just not good enough on that day. We need to brush that off. We need to address it, step up and come again", he concluded.