Fragile Middle-order Hurting SRH Badly

Sunrisers Hyderabad is the only team to qualify for the playoffs consecutively in the last five seasons. That doesn’t mean that the team has a perfectly balanced side. It qualified because of the contribution from top-order batsmen and bowlers. The middle-order problem was there for a long time and the team is not addressing it at all. That mistake is proving to be costly this season.

SRH played three games this season and lost all of them. It is high time for them to win consecutive games to stay alive in the competition. They can’t depend on David Warner and Jonny Bairstow in every match. Manish Pandey should change his approach and play according to the situation. Kane Williamson needs to be in the team irrespective of any given reason. He is an underrated trump card. Speaking at the post-match presentation last night, David Warner said that Kane is recovering well from his injury. He added that the team management is waiting for the physio’s report on Kane’s availability.

The team management should nurture players like Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, and Virat Singh by giving them enough chances. Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar’s lack of form is hurting the team and the fans badly. They can also try Kedhar Jadhav in a few matches because he is a good middle-order batsman with international experience. SRH’s coaching department needs to sit down and assess the middle-order conundrum and come back stronger in the upcoming games.