Team 2 in my list of previews is Sunrisers Hyderabad who I think did a splendid job in the auctions. Unlike the mega auction last time, where they started on an absurd note and then recovered later, this time they started on a good note and did well throughout.
SRH's OS set of batters is an outstanding one. Markram, Phillips, Klassen are pretty much as well rounded as batters can be in terms of skill. They also play spin quite well which isn't expected from batters outside Asia. Glenn Philips avgs a whopping 85.7 (SR 168)
in T20Is from the beginning of 2020. He also has the experience of playing in the CPL and did decently where pitches can be really difficult to bat at times. In WT20, he did well too. Brook is extremely talented with great range against pace, vs spin he could be tested though.
A top 3 of Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi are as good as an Indian Top 3 that can be assembled currently given the constraints of IPL. Only worry is Mayank's issues vs movement which have been highlighted quite badly this year. But the ball may not always move
Addition of Adil Rashid & Akeal Hosein has made their bowling attack even stronger. Both the players are an upgrade over Shreyas Gopal & Jagdeesha Suchith.
Biggest concern is captaincy. No perfect candidate. OS captains are always a huge risk and in the last 2 seasons SRH were stuck with non performing OS captains. I'd personally want one of Abhishek Sharma/Sundar to be captain with an eye for the future, but the scrutiny is so high
that you don't want young players succumbing to the pressure of it.
Death bowling was another concern for SRH last season. Bhuvi did well for them, but his radar at the death has been off post the IPL.
Their biggest threat is them not getting the combination right. When they used to have Warner, Williamson & Bairstow in Top 3, they couldn't accommodate Nabi who would have strengthened their finishing. Playing one of Rashid/Akeal is key for them.
If one of their Top 3 doesn't work out, they can give Samarth Vyas a go.
Like I said in the threats part. The other combination they could try is play 3 OS batters and one of Adil/Akeal depending upon conditions and play Natarajan instead of Jansen/Farooqui. That will mean Samad becomes an impact player.
Another thing that I want to point out is, to break the sameness of all RHBs in the Top 6, they can look to promote even Washington Sundar at the odd occasion.
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Will be sharing my thoughts on the squad of every IPL team after the recently concluded auction and if they have improved or not from the previous seasons on paper. Team 1 is Lucknow Supergiants.
LSG in KL, QdK, Hooda, Pooran & Stoinis have a very good Top 5 when it comes to skill. Their bowling and various all rounders make sure that balance will never be their issue. They are one team that can make do without the impact player rule.
For 3 seasons in a row, some would argue it's 4, KL Rahul has not batted the way he can. And that has had it's cascading effects. Apart from that, Stoinis's usage with the bat was poor by LSG last season. And their bowling didn't deliver as well as it should have.
Grateful to all those who offered their support today. The way I look at the sport, is to always make an attempt to look at things differently (specially not the clichéd & conventional manner), and in doing that, there are bound to be disagreements, many of them logical, and some
just out of stubbornness to change the convention. And it's also going to bring its share of trolling, coz why not.
Anyway, the point here is, I am not going to shy away from coming up with wild/unconventional possibilities and having conversations on that, because I feel
those discussions are the only way forward to enhance one's understanding of the sport. Specially when mainstream sports coverage has more or less stopped offering that. My handle will always be a space for those who want to engage on cricket merit respectfully, regardless of
There are few issues here with Kohli from what I have understood watching his game in recent times.
1. It's not an intent issue vs spin, it's a skill issue. He realises it, and that's why he tries to turn strike over. Lack of confidence means he's not using his feet enough.
Specially to come down the track.
2. Because he knows he's struggling vs spin, he's trying to over compensate against pace, to push up his SR, and thus becoming desperate, going for shots and trying to muscle a few, all while losing his shape.
3. This hasn't given the desired
results, and thus made him look a lot more muddled at the centre. The result is visible is in his dot ball, almost 39 this season, his highest ever since IPL 2012. Because he's not sure what he wants to do, he's either early, or late into his shots.
As a great man once said, sport isn't about revenge. It's about respect & pride. Star Sports have often forgotten this, which has led to some unforgotten second hand embarrassment for Indian cricket fans.
Here's a thread of those campaigns/promos
1. 2012: #AaneDo for home series vs Pakistan. Ind lose ODI series 2-1 2. 2015: #WeWontGiveItBack. Dhoni had even said 'the cup doesn't belong to us. We took it from someone and someone else will take it from us. 3. 2015: Calling Bangladesh 'Bacha' (A kid) before the series.
Result: Bangladesh beat India for the first time in an ODI series.
4. 2019 Ind Aus series: Showed Aussie players to be pissing at the prospect of facing India. The most disgraceful promo ever I have seen. Result, Aus beat India 3-2 in ODIs and 2-0 in T20Is.
By the way, for what's it worth, I didn't think that intent was an issue with Indian batters. The first 4 wickets fell to attempted boundary shots. KL's dismissal was the most unfortunate one. The only thing different IND could have done is send Pant at 4
and not have Kohli & Rohit bat together vs spin. Once Rohit was out at 40-3 at the 7.4 over mark, there was no way Pant could have attacked freely with an out of form Pandya to follow. KL's wicket was the turning point. India never really recovered from
there. And while it can be argued that why was Rohit demoted & Kishan not kept in the middle order to tackle spin, the think tank probably wanted to maximise the powerplay with both Kishan & KL since Rohit is a slow starter. Batting first you need some of these things to do your