IPL 2017, GL vs SRH: 5 things that went wrong for Gujarat Lions

Gujarat Lions (GL) hosted Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 53^rd game of the IPL 2017. SRH, after electing to bowl first, restricted GL to a modest 154 on a belter of a pitch. And in the second innings, the visitors rode on the fifties from Vijay Shankar and David Warner to chase down the total with 11 balls to spare.

On the other hand, Gujarat Lions suffered yet another loss in front of their home crowd. After being put in to bat, they got off to a brilliant start as both the openers, Dwayne Smith and Ishan Kishan smashed the ball to all parts of the park.

They put on a partnership of 111 runs before Dwayne Smith was out LBW to Rashid Khan. But, GL just collapsed like nine pins after losing their first wicket. Apart from the openers, Jadeja was the only one to get to double digits as Lions struggled their way to 154.

However, SRH didn’t have a great start to their chase either. They lost two quick wickets up front and were reduced to 25 for two in three overs. But, David Warner joined hands with Vijay Shankar and steadied the ship to put on a match-winning partnership.

In the end, SRH won the game comfortably by eight wickets. Courtesy this win SRH have now qualified for the playoffs with 17 points to their name.

Here are five things that went wrong for GL in today’s game.

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#1 Losing both the openers together

Kishan played his part but the middle order didn’t play theirs

GL got off to a brilliant start against a quality bowling attack of SRH. But, losing both the set openers together didn’t help GL’s cause as after that, none of the batsmen could stay at the crease for long.

Dwayne Smith was the first one to go after playing a brilliant innings, 33-ball 54. And Ishan Kishan too got out after adding just nine runs to the total. GL should have looked to put a good partnership but it was not to be.

Suresh Raina decided to take the attack to Mohammed Siraj and got out to a slower ball, looking to clear the square leg boundary. After losing their top three, Lions looked completely out of sorts and kept losing wickets regularly.

#2 Middle-order collapse

Suresh Raina decided to take the attack to Mohammed Siraj and got out to a slower ball

GL have had decent contributions from their middle-order this season. The experienced Dinesh Karthik and Aron Finch have formed a formidable combination in the middle overs. But it didn’t work today as none of the middle-order batsmen made any contribution.

Dinesh Karthik was unfortunate as he mistimed a friendly full toss and was caught in the deep. Aron Finch played a reckless shot and was cleaned up by Rashid Khan. After losing four wickets in quick session, the Australian should have looked to play till the end.

James Faulkner too has had a lean patch with the bat this season. GL needed him to get runs today but the Aussie all-rounder disappointed yet again.

#3 Jadeja running out of partners

Lower order batsmen should have looked to play alongside Jadeja

While wickets fell regularly at one end, Ravindra Jadeja was left stranded at the other. Jadeja played a responsible innings of 20 runs from 14 balls but fell short of partners in the end.

After losing the last recognised batsman in James Faulkner, the lower order batsmen should have looked to play alongside Jadeja. But no one really made an effort to prolong their stay at the crease and some quality death bowling from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar made sure that Jadeja couldn’t get on strike.

Lions couldn’t even play their full quota of 20 overs. Though SRH chased down the target comfortably in the end, twenty to thirty extra runs could have made their task much difficult and GL might have had a chance.

#4 Dinesh Karthik dropping Vijay Shankar

Shankar looked in no trouble after that missed opportunity and played an important knock (63 off 44 balls)

With two wickets down within the power play, Vijay Shankar walked in at number four for SRH. And he was put down by Karthik when he was batting after adding just seven runs to his name. In the ninth over of the innings, James Faulkner bowled one wide and full and Shankar looking to drive through the off-side, eked out an edge to the keeper.

However, Karthik couldn’t hang on to it.

Another wicket at that moment could have really put SRH under pressure as their middle-order hasn’t really been tested this season. And with Yuvraj Singh not playing today, SRH were very vulnerable.

However, Shankar looked in no trouble after that missed opportunity and played an important knock (63 off 44 balls) to see his team home.

#5 Ankit Soni’s expensive spell

SRH made the best of the loose deliveries and cruised to a crucial victory

SRH didn’t lose wickets in the middle overs but were not able to score runs at a brisk pace to put GL out of the game as well. However, Ankit Soni helped SRH in that regard by bowling few loose balls when his team was looking to build pressure.

Vijay Shankar particularly took a liking to the leggie as he scored quite a few boundaries off him. The leg-spinner leaked 31 runs in the 2.1 overs he bowled, which was too many in the context of the game. Surprisingly, Suresh Raina persisted with Soni, even though he went for 11 runs in his first over.

Had Soni bowled one or two tight overs and managed to pick up either of the batsmen in the middle overs, GL could have tried to put SRH under pressure. But it wasn’t to be and SRH made the best of the loose deliveries and cruised to a crucial victory.