Overconfidence, injury, dropped catch: Story of SRH's first IPL 2018 loss

The KXIP vs SRH match played in Mohali on April 19 saw Chris Gayle hitting first ton of IPL 2018. There were many factors that led to Sunrisers Hyderabad's defeat against Kings XI Punjab. Details here

Who starts an IPL match as the favourite is both a matter of perception and numbers on paper. The real pressure is on the team that knows it is entering the game as the favourite. Similar was the case with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in its Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) match against King XI Punjab (KXIP) in Mohali on April 19. On paper, having won all the three matches played till then, SRH were the clear favourites. However, after beating Chennai Super Kings in a nail-biter and Chirs Gayle's fired-up performance, even KXIP looked no less, especially as they were playing on their home ground. 

Playing at IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Thursday, Kings XI Punjab won the toss and decided to bat first. From that moment, a series of unfortunate events kept catching SRH every now and then. KXIP's Chirs Gayle, it seemed, picked up his innings from where he had left it in the previous match against Chennai Super Kings. He took some time to settle down and it did seem that SRH bowlers might get the better of him. But that was not meant to be. Rashid Khan did trouble him a little in his first over, as Gayle did not read him well and edged one to the keeper. Luckily for him, Wriddhman Saha dropped it. 

After that, it was only merry-making for Chirs Gayle. Bowlers could not handle the pressure of Gayle hitting them all over the park. Rashid Khan, the prime spinner for SRH, was hit for four back-to-back sixes by Gayle in an over that cost SRH 27 runs. What was surprising was the fact that when Gayle had hit him for two sixes in the previous over, too. Khan seemed to have learnt little from his mistake. While Gayle was on his run-fest, batsmen at the other end made sure the run rate was always up. SRH bowlers and fielders let KXIP batsmen take quick singles and doubles which meant pressure would never build up. Gayle was formidable, but the bowlers never tried to create any pressure on the other batsmen either. The result was a target of 194 for SRH.

SRH's bowling department, what they are really proud of, leaked 193 runs. This was the first time a team crossed 150-mark against SRH in IPL 2018. They are known to restrict oppositions at low totals. This time, they just had no answer to Chris Gayle, who struck the first century of IPL 2018. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a rather disastrous start. In-form opener Shikhar Dhawan was hit on his elbow and retired hurt on the very first ball that he faced. That itself was a huge setback. He had anchored the innings in the previous matches and also scored at a decent pace. Saha's miseries continued; he threw away his wicket in his pursuit of pre-mature acceleration. He scored well when he played with a straight bat, yet he was tempted to play a cross-batted shot and throw away his wicket in a situation when he was needed the most. If Dhawan was injured, did it mean the match would be lost? Other batsmen could have stepped up, and they should have done so.

Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan started rebuilding the innings. Captain Kane was a little too slow and Yusuf was busy increasing the run rate with risky shots. Extravagance was necessary but shot selection was also crucial. Yusuf tried too much rather than sticking to the basics and got out early. Williamson, being the captain, took the responsibility to play the anchor. In doing so he forgot that there was a huge target to chase. He played a rather slow-paced innings. Manish Pandey was also influenced by his captain and played shots only when they came like freebies. Both had a decent partnership but it was not enough. 

Deepak Hooda failed to impress and got out for 5 while trying to clear the huge stadium. Shakib Al Hasan hit a few sixes towards the end of the innings, but that was not enough for SRH. Eventually, they lost by 15 runs, even as they still had 5 more batsmen waiting to play. The point is, they could have accelerated much earlier and stood a chance to come closer to the target. They gained nothing by keeping six wickets intact. The strike-rate comparison between SRH and KXIP batsmen is important. While most of the KXIP batsmen scored at a strike rate of above 150, SRH batsmen got stuck at 130, which clearly shows the difference. Chris Gayle alone hit 11 sixes, and other batsmen also hit when they got the opportunity. SRH batsmen failed to hit sixes, or even fours. They could not pierce the in-field and convert ones into twos. They just did not try.

This is the first loss for SRH but they need to work on their batting -- especially the power hitters must -- to escape this type of a loss.