“I guess he is still struggling with the elbow” - Aakash Chopra on SRH skipper Kane Williamson’s lack of runs in IPL 2022
Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra reckons that Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson still seems to be struggling with his elbow, which is hampering his run-scoring ability in IPL 2022.
The New Zealand captain has been battling a long-standing elbow injury, which has forced him to miss a lot of international cricket in recent months. He has not looked in great touch in IPL 2022 as well, registering scores of two, 16 and 32 in Hyderabad’s three matches so far. His 32 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was a labored effort, which came off 40 balls.
Analyzing Williamson’s batting troubles in the ongoing IPL ahead of SRH’s clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday, Chopra said on his YouTube channel:
“Kane Williamson is not finding his form. I guess he is still struggling with the elbow. He is not able to get rhythm into his batting.”
Speaking about the others in the batting order, he reiterated his previous view that Washington Sundar must bat up the order. The 44-year-old added:
“They have Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran and Washington Sundar. I think Sundar should bat at the top of the order. The others will not be able to handle pace of Lockie Ferguson and spin of Rashid Khan.”
Sundar has been batting in the lower order for SRH so far. In the two games that he has had a chance to bat, he has scored 40 off 14 and 18 off 14.
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“Openers hardly score any runs against this bowling attack” – Aakash Chopra on the challenge for SRH’s Abhishek Sharma
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Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma was the player of the match in the IPL team’s win over Chennai. He scored a sublime 75 off 50 balls.
While praising the youngster for his impressive knock, Chopra opined that the left-hander would find things much tougher against Gujarat, saying:
“Abhishek Sharma batted very well in the last game. But there’s a pattern developing in this tournament wherein openers of every team are scoring runs against the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians. Abhishek batted nicely in the last game, but will he shine against Gujarat? I am not certain because the opposition’s bowling is top-class. Openers hardly score any runs against this bowling attack.”
GT conceded 189 runs, bowling first against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). However, they chased down the target courtesy of Shubman Gill’s 96 in what turned out to be a last-ball thriller.