"You put so much pressure on the middle-order"- Lisa Sthalekar on how Mayank Agarwal's knock affected SRH against MI
Former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar feels Mayank Agarwal's knock of 48 runs off 41 balls put a lot of pressure on the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) middle order against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday.
Agarwal got off to a start, but couldn't quite get going and that meant that other players like Aiden Markram had to take extra risks. Those risks didn't come off and SRH kept on losing wickets to finally get bowled out.
Speaking to Cricbuzz after MI's win over SRH, here's what Lisa Sthalekar had to say about Mayank Agarwal's innings:
"I certainly think they wanted him (Agarwal) to kick on. When you face so many deliveries, it's okay if you get the job done. But unfortunately when you eat up that many deliveries and go at a strike rate of just under 120 and then you get out, you put so much pressure on the middle-order and they certainly felt that."
Sthalekar also shed light on how other batters like Heinrich Klaasen didn’t take the responsibility of staying till the end despite looking in supreme touch. She added:
"You need players who get the job done. You look at someone like Shimron Hetmyer. He remains unbeaten and gets his team across the line. That's what they (SRH) were looking for. Even someone like Washington Sundar had an opportunity, but poor running as well."
Wickets at the backend hurt SRH: Lisa Sthalekar
Lisa Sthalekar feels that the biggest issue with the Sunrisers Hyderabad was that they kept on losing wickets despite having the required run rate in check. She opined that when a team loses wickets upfront as well as at the backend, it gets really tough for their chances of winning the game.
On this, she stated:
"The wickets at the backend hurt them and also at the start when they lost an aggressor like Harry Brook. They lost clumps of wickets after the 14th over and I thought Marco Jansen looked really good. But no one could put their hand up and say that 'Right, I will get the job done today.'"
Sunrisers Hyderabad have now lost three out of their first five games and will need to get back to the drawing board to reflect on their weaknesses.