IPL 2018: The Secrets behind SRH's defensive excellence

Following their loss to the Chennai Super Kings back on April 22, the Sunrisers Hyderabad suddenly found themselves without the services of their two best bowlers. Spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to be rested while Australian speedster Billy Stanlake was ruled out of the entire tournament. In addition to that, their star spinner Rashid Khan had been taken to the cleaners in two games against Kings XI Punjab and CSK.

Clearly, they were in trouble but after defending scores of 118, 132 and 151 in three consecutive games, it is now quite clear that SRH possess the best bowling attack in the whole tournament. In the absence of their inspirational captain David Warner, New Zealander Kane Williamson has led them brilliantly as well and they now find themselves at the top of the table. So, how did they manage to defend these paltry scores and what is the secret behind this defensive excellence? Here are some factors that could clear up the mystery a bit.

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#4 Shakib Al Hasan’s control

There are very few spinners in world cricket who can bowl Shakib Al Hasan’s brand of crafty, quick, accurate left-arm orthodox spin and not only squeeze the runs but also pick up wickets. He is one part of a pair of an excellent spinning duo and his primary responsibility is to give the team some control in the middle-overs. In each of the last three defensive displays from the SRH bowling unit, his performances stood out.

Against MI (defending 118), he returned figures of 1-16, while against KXIP (defending 132) Shakib took 2 for 18 in his quota of overs and in the latest game, he did not take any wickets but went for only 30 runs in his four overs. That is the sort of throttling that often goes unnoticed due to the speed at which he goes through his overs and before long the opponents realize that the asking rate has mounted. It is a slow squeeze and has perhaps gone a bit unnoticed in SRH’s three superb victories so far. 

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