IPL 6: Match 14 - DD vs SRH: Sunrisers Hyderabad Preview

The Sunrisers Hyderabad were handed a rude awakening by Kohli & Co. in their last match after a surprisingly good start to their debut IPL season. The three matches that they have played have just underlined their strength and weakness – their bowling and batting respectively. On off days, when their bowling misfires, its difficult for SRH to win the encounter. Their batting is far too reliant on the foreign players, and that is something they need to work on.

The bowling, spearheaded by Dale Steyn, looks strong. Ishant Sharma also looks a different T20 bowler – the pairing with Steyn and the keen eye of Waqar would have definitely played a part. Though both of them bowl with good pace, in the absence of swing, they might find it a bit difficult to make early inroads, especially against the likes of Warner and Jayawardene – who are no novices against such bowling. The pace duo against the destructive opening pair of Sehwag and Warner makes for a mouth-watering contest.

Amit Mishra holds the key to the middle overs. He will be excitedly looking forward to the contest against his former team at a ground where he first burst on to the IPL scene. A large factor in his success will also be the performance of the other bowlers in the line up – Cameron White, Thisara Perera and Ashish Reddy. If they leak runs, the DD batsmen can adopt a watchful approach against Mishra and negate his attack.

As far as the SRH batting is concerned, barring Vihari’s knock against RCB at Hyderabad, the Indian talent hasn’t done much to impress. That Perera and White have made contributions across matches has managed to shield the chinks their batting. However, something that hasn’t missed the eye is Sangakkara’s form. He has failed to make an impactful contribution; but it’s only a matter of time before a player of such class finds his form again. It will be in SRH’s favor if the time comes sooner than later. DD has a bowling unit which has got variety – Irfan’s swing, Yadav’s pace, Morkel’s bounce and Nadeem’s largely under-rated tight bowling will test the SRH batsmen. Their death bowling, however, is not threatening and that is where SRH will look to cash in.

Players to watch out for:

Dale Steyn – Even when he is not taking wickets, he doesn’t generally concede a lot of runs. He will be central to SRH’s bowling plans as he will have the first go against the dynamic Sehwag-Warner duo.

Cameron White – With White finding form, he will a big threat especially in conditions which were suited to batting in the first match at Kotla. His ability to clear the ropes is something DD will be wary of.

Thisara Perera – A firing foreign all-rounder works wonders for a team, especially when he is in form. Not only is he destructive with the bat, he can also bowl his medium-pacers with reasonable guile.

Strategy:

SRH will look to bat first. That is when they give their top-of-the-order batsmen a chance to build a platform. Perera and White can launch an attack towards the end to put up a good total on the board. They will then back their strong bowling to win the match for them. If they are bowling first, their opening bowlers will look to take early wickets in a bid to control the run-rate. They would like to restrict the DD team to a score of around 140-150, because that is when they give their middle-heavy batting a good shot at chasing the score down.