Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that the SunRisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) batters let their team down against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2024 Qualifier 1 as well. He also added that the IPL 2016 champions had to depend on Pat Cummins to bail them out of trouble. However, SRH were bowled out for 159 after opting to bat first in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 21 and KKR chased the below-par target down with eight wickets and 38 deliveries to spare.
While talking about SRH’s batting in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Pat Cummins tried. Pat can bat but how will it work out if only Pat has to bat? He became the third-highest run-scorer of the Hyderabad batting unit but the team was left way behind. This team got all out for the first time while batting first. The intention was to score 250 and even 175 remained very far. Travis Head was sent immediately to the pavilion by Arshdeep (Singh) in the last match and Mitchell Starc in this match. Starc first dismissed Travis Head for zero and then Nitish Reddy tried to hit across the line and the ball went straight up in the air. He dismissed Shahbaz Ahmed off the next ball. He was on a hat-trick in the powerplay overs itself.”
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However, the former India opener also added that Mitchell Starc’s early strikes put SRH on the back foot. Starc registered figures of 3/34 in four overs. Aakash Chopra also praised Rahul Tripathi for playing an enterprising knock after SRH had lost four wickets in the powerplay as well.
“Abhishek Sharma also got out. Hyderabad’s Charminar was dismissed in the powerplay itself. It seemed it was impossible to emerge from there. Rahul Tripathi batted well for some time. He played many unconventional shots. He tries less to play with the straight bat. Heinrich Klaasen played well. His six-hitting ability is different. He hits short-pitched balls with a straight bat. Don’t know how he does that but he does. When he too got out, the innings stumbled. Abdul Samad came after that. He anyway comes riding a horse but Rahul Tripathi got run out. When Rahul Tripathi got run out, it wasn’t going to happen,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
