IPL 2018: Four tactical moves which can help SRH snap out of their losing run

After a booming start to the eleventh season of the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad seem to have lost their Midas' touch coming into the fag end of the tournament. Nine wins out of the first eleven have turned into as many out of fifteen and their story seems to be going on a similar page as Delhi Daredevils' in 2012, their last graceful outing in the IPL.

SRH's circumstances also make for an important insight into the intensive nature of the tournament where peaking too early can sometimes be a disadvantage in disguise. But the fact that they topped the tables despite two apparent form slumps and conceding more centuries than anyone this season, is relaxation enough that all is not over for them yet.

When Kane Williamson's men walk out against a partisan Eden Gardens crowd today, the demons in their heads and KKR's winning streak won't be their only impediments on the road to the finals.

Going into a do-or-die game, here is what the men in orange can do to turn things around in their favour, including a couple of left-field suggestions for good measure.

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#1 Bowl Rashid Khan in the death overs

Surprise death bowler?

KKR's middle order comprises of three right-handed batsmen and the singular southpaw in Nitish Rana. With the two conventional kinds of spinners in Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan to accommodate the middle overs, Williamson can take the gamble of bowling Rashid in the death overs against the three right-handers.

With the Eden Surface expected to offer grip and lots of tweak for the spinners, Rashid's flat trajectory coupled with his flummoxing variations can do charms in the time of the innings where batsmen look to throw caution to the air and as players found out in the BBL, Rashid Khan is hard to get away with if you approach him with that attitude.

Given that SRH have struggled in the finishing overs lately, and on the verge of losing their nominal mantle of the best bowling lineup, this just might be the time for Kane to try something out of the blue to throw the batsmen off their guard, especially while defending when playing out a bowler's quota of overs at the death is sacrilege.

#2 Move Shakib up the batting order

Shakib can help SRH score at a sustained healthy rate through the middle overs

Most of the season, the Bangladeshi premium all-rounder has been underutilized with the bat, often coming out to bat as low as number seven. Provided he is a clean striker of the ball, but not entirely in all conventional senses. He scores more freely when the situation demands that the scorecard be kept ticking rather than smash every ball into obscurity.

If slotted up the order at four, Shakib can ideally bat in the period right in the proximity of the field restrictions. His intelligent brand of cricket and match awareness helps him manoeuvre the fields, thereby preventing a sudden drop-down in the scoring rates.

He and an in-form Williamson, if batting together, can cause trouble for the opposition with their contrasting yet equally effective batting styles. This will also allow a struggling Manish Pandey a slot lower down the order where he can assume a rather more comfortable role of playing purely as a finisher.

#3 Attack Sunil Narine with pace

He might have answers to Narine the batsman's mysteries

Teams have tried, with little success, to contain Sunil Narine by taking pace off the ball. While it worked on a couple of occasions, but most of the times the Caribbean star managed to get on top of spinners, mostly because of the field restrictions. It is starting to seem that he is not prone to vulnerabilities against any kind of bowling.

Mythical.

On multiple occasions, Narine has struggled against aggressive bowling. But given the way he started as an opener, not a lot of bowlers had the will to attack him. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar managed to york him twice last season, while this year Ben Stokes exposed his ineffectual prowess against quick short deliveries, angled into his body without letting him make any room to free his arms.

So, Williamson can look to bowl the duo of Kaul and Kumar, rather than opening the bowling with Sandeep Sharma, whose relatively wider lines might get punished by Narine. It's time for some timber and perfume!

#4 Conjure the spinning trio

Bipul Sharma, the underrated experienced campaigner

This is perhaps a big call, but if the surface is dry enough, Kane Williamson can channelize his captaincy marvels of Nagpur 2016 by playing three front-line spinners. In the eliminator, Kolkata used their spinners very effectively to contain a free-flowing Rajasthan Royals innings. KKR have not been attacked with spin so far. In a one-off event, they struggled against Krunal Pandya and Mayank Markande.

By roping in Bipul Sharma for Sandeep Sharma, Williamson will have three different kinds of spinners to deal with the dynamic batting line-up of KKR, that comprises both hitters and smart accumulators of runs. Bipul, with his wily floating left-arm spinners, can restrict the flow of runs, while allowing Shakib and Rashid Khan to attack from the other ends.

Also, Bipul provides invaluable batting ability down the order, and can help them gain impetus to score quick runs towards the later part of the innings, a phase where SRH have struggled lately.