IPL 2018, KXIP vs SRH: 5 Talking Points

#5 SRH’s batting vulnerability lets them down

SRH have got the best bowling lineup in this edition of the IPL. That is their strength and they have made full use of that to win their first three games. Their batting hasn’t exactly been tested before this game against KXIP.

Their batting is extremely dependent on two players - Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson to set the tone for the innings, be it while setting a score or chasing a total. Without David Warner, Dhawan has taken on the responsibility of the enforcer at the top of the order really well.

Unfortunately for SRH, Dhawan got injured after just facing one ball. That was as good as the end of the resilience for Hyderabad chasing a stiff target of 194 runs against a good KXIP bowling line up.

The other batsmen haven’t been tested so far in the IPL and it was clearly evident in their chase. Wriddhiman Saha doesn’t look too comfortable at the top of the order, he has tasted success at the top of the order for his previous franchise but so far he hasn’t contributed with the bat.

Yusuf Pathan was promoted up the order and despite getting two lives he couldn’t convert it into anything substantial. Manish Pandey who has come into this IPL on the back of a huge price tag hasn’t been able to deliver on his potential.

Too many singles and twos without enough boundaries just was not what his team needed. He needed to deposit many out of the boundary and help his team in maintaining a good momentum in the run chase.

More importantly, what this performance from the SRH batting line up says that they are extremely reliant on Dhawan and Williamson to get them the big runs. The middle-order batsmen have potential but are yet to deliver. So if oppositions can find ways to remove those two batsmen early then they can dominate proceedings.