Former India player turned famous commentator Aakash Chopra has shared his views on how the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) defensive approach to the run-chase in their last IPL 2021 match made it seem like a Test match.
Notably, The Punjab Kings (PBKS) team has set a target of 126 runs in their allotted 20 overs. With the slow surface making stroke play difficult, the SRH team has managed a mere 20 runs in the powerplay to fall behind the eight balls as well. While talking about the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s run chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opened up on their poor start along with the fall of regular wickets that cost them badly.
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He elaborated: “It was going like a Test match. They scored just 20-22 runs in the powerplay. Warner also gets out, Kane Williamson also gets out and after some time Manish Pandey also gets out, Kedar Jadhav also gets out. Wickets keep falling one after the other.”
He continued: “Ravi Bishnoi comes and shines, then you think why you dropped him. He was doing very well, he did well last year also. Why you didn’t play him from the beginning? We don’t have answers to those questions. Jason Holder hit four sixes and took the team close to victory but they didn’t get a win.”
However, Holder smashed an unbeaten 47 off just 29 deliveries, including five sixes. But, he didn’t get support from the other end and they eventually lost the match as well.
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Aakash Chopra said: “It seemed the wagon was not moving at all, whether it was KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle or Nicholas Pooran – no one was able to do anything. They tried a little for sure. In the end, Hooda also tried and somehow they played 20 overs to score 125 runs. That’s not a bad total but not great also.”
“Jason Holder did a very good job. Rashid always does well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s speed is the only concern I am seeing. 120-odd has become his average pace. It’s not because the pitch was slow, he was bowling slow in Sri Lanka and Dubai also. Sandeep Sharma – he bowled really well,” he concluded.
