In their first three games of IPL 2021, the Sunrises Hyderabad (SRH) has failed to chase down the totals of 188, 150, and 151. Chennai is proving to be their undoing as SRH has witnessed their worst-ever start to a season after losing to Mumbai Indians by 13 runs on Saturday. In the absence of an injured Kane Williamson, under the captaincy of David Warner, SRH’s middle-order has been failing more often than not.
On Saturday, Sunrisers got off to strong start with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow adding 67 in just 7.2 overs, chasing 151, but after the dismissal of Bairstow, nothing went in favor of Hyderabad. Warner was not able to convert his start into a match-winning knock and Manish Pandey’s struggles continue as the senior batsman departed for 2.  Vijay Shankar came up with a single-handed effort (24-ball 26) at the death but he failed to take the team over the line as SRH lost the game by 13 runs as Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult gave nothing away.
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Speaking after the third straight loss, David Warner said, “I don’t know how to take that. Two of us got set, my run out, Jonny stepping on his wickets, and false shots in the middle proved that if you don’t have two guys at the end, you don’t win. These scores are very chaseable, it’s just poor batting.”
Batting was not easy on the sluggish Chennai pitch and Warner rued the fact that both Bairstow and himself failed to convert their starts. In the first innings, despite MI losing momentum in the middle-overs before Kieron Pollard came up with a blinder, hitting a 22-ball 35 not out.
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Elaborating the same, Warne said, “If you get a partnership and have one guy at the end, you can chase down 150 easily. You just need smart cricket in the middle, we aren’t doing that. I think our bowlers adapted well to this wicket, it’s slower than the ones we played on earlier. We’ve got to learn from the mistakes and right now it’s just the batsmen. We’ve got to take responsibility.”
