IPL 2017, SRH vs RPS: Five things that went wrong for Sunrisers Hyderabad

Rising Pune Supergiant defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs to register their fourth consecutive victory in IPL 2017.

Playing at their home ground, Sunrisers kept Pune under control in the first half of their innings but sloppy bowling in the death meant Hyderabad had to chase 149. A poor start and the loss of Warner and Yuvi at crunch moments added to their woes while the failure of the middle order resulted in their defeat.

Extra Cover: 5 memorable moments from the SRH vs RPS match that don’t fade away

Here are five mistakes committed by Hyderabad today that led to their fifth defeat of the season.

---

#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar missing his mark against Dhoni

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been the best death bowler so far in this IPL. In the slog overs, he has managed to get his yorkers right, stick to his line and length and importantly, set plans for every batsman.

However, when lined up against Dhoni today, it looked like the right-arm pacer was short of ideas. His strength, the wide yorker, was hammered over the covers for a six by Dhoni while the quicker delivery aimed at the body was dispatched to fine leg for a four.

With his weapons misfiring against Dhoni, Bhuvi went for a short delivery which the RPS batsman muscled over the mid-wicket fence.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s poor show in the death allowed RPS to score 37 runs between the 17^th and the 19^th overs.

#2 Dropped catches

Smith made full use of his extra life

IPL has been a mixed show in terms of fielding so far. Some incredible catches have been taken while many sitters have also been dropped. Sunrisers were woeful on the field and that allowed RPS to create a solid platform in the first half of their innings.

It started with Bipul Sharma dropping Steve Smith in the third over. Standing at short fine leg, Bipul failed to judge the height of the ball which was lobbed in the air after kissing Smith’s bat. He went with hard hands and the ball popped out eventually.

In the sixth over, Siddharth Kaul somehow managed to out-do his teammate. Henriques forced Rahane to chip one in the air towards mid-on. Kaul, who was stationed at mid-on, didn’t bother to go for the catch and instead allowed it to bounce in front of him.

In the 10^th over, Smith got lucky again as he was dropped in the same region. Off the bowling of Henriques, Smith’s flick shot fell just short of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The pace bowler went to his left to gather the ball but never looked like catching it.

Rahane scored another nine runs after the drop while Smith, who was dropped on five and 22, went on to score 34.

#3 Kane Williamson’s failure

Williamson was dismissed cheaply

On the two-paced Hyderabad wicket, batsmen had to apply themselves effectively to score big. And while chasing a tricky target of 149, SRH needed Williamson to stay at the crease.

Williamson, with his solid technique and ability to rotate the strike, was the ideal batsman to anchor the side in the chase. However, the Kiwi lasted only two balls and was dismissed cheaply for four runs.

After coming in to bat in the fifth over, Williamson showed promise as he guided his first ball for a boundary. However, on the very next ball, he was surprised by a short delivery by Stokes and made the mistake of playing away from his body. He was dismissed caught behind.

Two wickets in the span of three balls dented Hyderabad’s chase and ultimately exposed their vulnerable lower middle order far too early.

#4 Warner throwing his wicket away

Warner threw his wicket away after getting a start

After Dhawan and Williamson’s early departures, David Warner played sensibly and focused on stitching a partnership with Yuvraj. Both batsmen took calculated risks and steadied Hyderabad’s innings.

However, Imran Tahir bowled a quiet tenth over and then Thakur troubled both Yuvi and Warner by extracting extra bounce from the wicket. Suddenly, the boundaries dried up and Warner felt the pressure.

In the 13^th over, Warner tried to break the shackles by attacking Stokes. However, his ambitious uppercut found Thakur at sweeper cover as the SRH skipper was dismissed cheaply after getting a solid start.

Warner’s wicket allowed RPS back into the match.

#5 Failure of the middle order to chase down the target

SRH’s lower order was wrecked by Unadkat

One of the flaws in Hyderabad’s batting lineup is the absence of an experienced finisher in the lower middle order. Moises Henriques has had a decent IPL while batting at the top but he has seemed out of touch when batting in the middle order. Naman Ojha has got very few opportunities to bat in this IPL while their favoured hitter Deepak Hooda was replaced by Bipul Sharma.

Yuvraj kept them in the game until the 16^th over but the rest of the batting unit failed to take them to the target. Henriques failed to read Tahir’s googly while Ojha and Bipul Sharma succumbed to poor shot selection.