"Bombs are exploding, tornadoes are coming but he is calm, cool and collected" - Aakash Chopra lauds Kane Williamson's knock for SRH
Aakash Chopra has picked Kane Williamson as the star performer in last night's IPL 2022 encounter between the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Gujarat Titans (GT).
Williamson scored 57 runs off 46 balls as SRH chased down the 163-run target with eight wickets in hand and five deliveries to spare. He strung together useful partnerships with Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi to lay the foundation for the run chase.
While reviewing the SRH-GT game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra picked Williamson as the standout player. He reasoned:
"I am going with Kane Williamson. Anything might be happening around him - bombs are exploding, tornadoes are coming but he is calm, cool and collected. That's Williamson. This team's heart, heartbeat, life, kidney - everything is Kane Williamson. When he scores runs, this team looks very good."
The former India cricketer added that while there were quite a few decent contributions from the other SRH players, none of them were game-defining performances. Chopra explained:
"Very unlikely hero because it was an odd match where if you see all bowlers - Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and Natarajan took two wickets apiece, you say they are good performers but none of them was extraordinary. If you see in the batting Abhishek played well, later Nicholas Pooran finished the job.
All the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers played their roles to restrict the Titans to a score of 162/7. Apart from Williamson, Abhishek Sharma (42) and Nicholas Pooran (34*) were the main contributors with the bat.
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"It was a sedate but important knock" - Aakash Chopra on Kane Williamson's innings
While observing that the SRH skipper was lucky to survive an LBW appeal early in his innings, Aakash Chopra lauded him for making use of the reprieve.
"Kane Williamson played well. He should have been given out at the start but wasn't. He stood there, it was a sedate but important knock, a match-winning knock."
The reputed commentator concluded by highlighting that the fate of the match was almost sealed before Williamson was dismissed. Chopra elaborated:
"The good thing is that you control the controllables, don't leave the macro picture. If you cannot be the hero, it's fine to be the hero's brother. It's alright, there was no ego. He came at the start, batted at different stages of the game and batted almost till the end. When he got out the match was almost in Hyderabad's grasp."
SRH required 34 runs off the last four overs when Williamson holed out to long-on off Hardik Pandya's bowling. Pooran and Aiden Markram then provided the finishing touches to the run chase.