Sunrisers Hyderabad notched up their fourth successive win in the IPL 2022 on Sunday with Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran once again forging a fruitful stand. Meanwhile, in the night game, we saw a ‘Killer Miller’ special as Gujarat Titans, led by Rashid Khan in the absence of Hardik Pandya, delivered a crushing blow to Chennai Super Kings, coming back from 16/3 and 87/5 to chase down 170.
Here are the biggest of the burning questions from the Sunday doubleheader.
Why PBKS’ ultra-aggressive approach is too risky without batting depth?
Punjab Kings have a strike rate of 141.39 in the first ten overs of the innings in IPL 2022, the best for any team by a country mile. The only other team with a strike rate above 130 is Delhi Capitals, who score at exactly 130.0. Punjab Kings have been exciting and refreshing to watch and it’s showing in their numbers. The issue, though, comes in the second half of the innings.
Punjab Kings’ batting ends at No 7 and that goes against their strategy to bat with high risk. Image: Sportzpics
In the 11-20 overs phase, Punjab Kings’ strike rate dips to 139.53, the lowest for any team in this phase this season. Their batting average in the second half of an innings is a meagre 15.48, again the worst for any team. The 31 wickets they have lost in the second half is the highest for any team and reflective of the issues they face.
While the approach as such is pretty refreshing and reminiscent of England’s revamped limited-overs mantra, the batting depth and batting line-up are in complete contrast to that of England’s. For one, Punjab do not have any left-hander in the middle-order with Bhanuka Rajapaksa sitting out and it makes them susceptible to spin in the middle overs, especially as pitches slow down in the latter half of the tournament.
They then have Shahrukh Khan and Odean Smith in the lower middle-order, which again is a tad one-dimensional with both of them being big-hitters of pace and boasting raw power. With Punjab losing too many wickets upfront, these guys aren’t potentially able to unleash their power in the best phase. Given their batting depth ends at Odean, with Rabada useful with the bat, yet nowhere close to being called an all-rounder, Punjab might want to rethink their approach or boost their batting.
How good has T Natarajan become in powerplay overs?
Natarajan’s return has been remarkable for Sunrisers Hyderabad with the Tamil Nadu seamer impressing with his game awareness and accuracy. While his bowling through the death overs has always been impressive, what’s stood out this year is his wicket-taking skills while maintaining a good economy rate in the powerplay overs. From 2017 to 2021, Natarajan took just three wickets in the powerplay, averaging 53 with the ball. His economy rate in 2020 was impressive as he conceded runs at 6.50 in the first six overs, but he only still took three wickets in 16 overs.
This year, in five overs in the powerplay, Natarajan has five wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 7.20 in the phase on the true surfaces in Mumbai and Pune have aided stroke-making against the new ball. The valuable returns at the top followed by seven wickets at an average of 14.4 in the death have made Natarajan the standout bowler for Sunrisers Hyderabad this year.
Why SRH need their openers to fire from the start despite a strong start to the season?
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s template has been very interesting this IPL, especially in the last four matches, each of which they went on to win. Sunrisers Hyderabad put up scores of 37, 42, 46 and 39 in the powerplay overs in the four matches they won, never once scoring at over eight runs per over. However, they lost more than one wicket only once in these matches.
In the middle overs in IPL 2022, Sunrisers Hyderabad have dominated thanks to the middle-order trio of Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran consistently stepping up. Their average in the middle overs is 45.18, the best for any team while their strike rate is impressive at 137.67. This template, though, is fraught with risk and could come apart if two of those three names have an ordinary day.
With the openers slow to start off — Kane Williamson is the only batter this season to bat 100-plus balls and have a strike rate under 100 — there’s too much riding on the middle-order. Markram, Tripathi, and Pooran have stepped up impressively, but SRH do not bat very deep and things could go awry if they continue to bank on the middle-order to salvage ordinary powerplay returns.
Why David Miller replicating his 2013 IPL heist is no surprise
The perception around David ‘Killer’ Miller is that he is a pure basher of the ball, who hits them out of the park if it’s in his arc. That might be true, but labelling Miller as a death overs batter who can go wild from ball one is a mistake most teams, including South Africa, have made over the years. Miller likes to have his time in the middle before taking off, and prefers batting earlier in the innings and carrying on till the end.
It’s a template that’s worked for him when he was promoted or forced to go up the order for South Africa too. Each of his five ODI hundreds have come when he has walked in to bat with more than 25 overs left. In each of these knocks, he took his time to settle in, as reflected from his score after the first 20 balls (12, 13, 20, 20, and 18 respectively). In all but one of them, Miller won the game for South Africa (this is true for his only T20I hundred too).
After the game last night, Miller said that, “getting in at 16/3 gives me an opportunity to shine”, something that clearly reflects his perception of himself — someone who likes to bat himself in and then take off.
His IPL heist in 2013 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (a spectacular 101* off 38 balls) also came when he walked in to bat before the 10th over. When given time to settle in, Miller more often than not makes it count. With CSK having just one stable death bowling option, a Miller masterclass was no surprise once he got in to bat in his best position and carried on till the final few overs.
How expensive has Chris Jordan become as a death bowler?
“I thought CJ [Chris Jordan] is experienced, so let me go with him. He can bowl 4-5 yorkers,” CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
The move to bowl two overs of Jordan in the death backfired spectacularly for CSK last night with the England seamer conceding 38 runs off the two overs. CSK banking on Jordan over Dwaine Pretorius in the death overs has been rather bizarre, especially going by the recent record.
Jordan had an economy rate of 7.88 in the death overs in T20Is in his first three years. In the next three years, it went up to 9.82 and since 2020, it is up to 10.98 with his last five overs in the death in T20Is going at an economy rate of 15. Pretorius, on the other hand, took the most wickets in the death overs in the recent T20 World Cup in UAE, while conceding runs at a rate of 8.88, and in his three overs for CSK in the death this year, he went at nine runs per over.
Jordan, on the other hand, has never really shone in the IPL in the death overs. His overall economy rate in the end overs in IPL is a shoddy 11.30, the fourth-worst for anyone in IPL history to bowl 30-plus overs in the death. He has neither been wicket-taking in this phase, taking just 11 wickets across 31.3 overs.
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