IPL 2021: "SRH's captain has changed but not their fortunes" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra has said that Kane Williamson taking over as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain from David Warner has not brought about an immediate change in fortunes for the franchise.

SRH appointed Williamson as their captain for the remainder of IPL 2021 ahead of their clash against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, the move did not yield the desired results as the Orange Army went down to the Sanju Samson-led team by 55 runs.

While reviewing the SRH-RR encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that a change in leadership did not bring luck to the IPL 2016 champions.

"The sun has set for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Their captain has changed but not their fortunes. They have won just one of their seven encounters. They changed the combination and played Nabi with Rashid," said Chopra.

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that although SRH brought in Mohammad Nabi as an all-rounder at the expense of David Warner, he was not used effectively.

"But they didn't make him bowl at all and got very little batting as well because he came too low down. I mean it was as good as playing with three overseas players. Bhuvi was back but the form was missing for the other players," added Chopra.

Nabi was given the ball only in the 15th over of the RR innings and was taken for 21 runs in that over. He was sent in to bat at No. 6, with the match almost beyond SRH's reach at that stage.

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Aakash Chopra on Kane Williamson's captaincy for SRH

The SRH bowlers were taken to the cleaners after Rashid Khan finished his spell [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra questioned Kane Williamson's decision to not bowl Nabi till the 15th over and finishing Rashid Khan's quota by the 11th over itself.

"I was a little surprised at Kane Williamson's bowling choices. He didn't give bowling to Nabi at all or gave just the one over, finished Rashid by the 11th over. I was slightly stunned," said Chopra.

#SRH have introduced Mohammad Nabi into the attack and Buttler hits him for 2x4, 2x6. Nabi concedes 21 in his first over. #RR now move to 146-1. https://t.co/7vPWWkMqQ2 #RRvSRH #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/A3FoGqizkg

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 2, 2021

The former KKR player opined Williamson was probably waiting for the set batsmen to be dismissed before bringing on his fifth bowler, which proved counterproductive in the end.

"You had to finish the overs with Vijay Shankar at the end because the calculation had gone slightly wrong. You were waiting for a wicket to fall but that wicket did not fall," signed off Chopra.

The combined four overs bowled by Vijay Shankar and Nabi for SRH yielded 63 runs. The RR batsmen plundered 134 runs off the final nine overs, once they had seen off Rashid Khan's spell.

Only the 3rd time in IPL Rashid Khan completed his 3rd over before 10 overs of the innings.2017 vs GL2019 vs RR2021 vs RRHe has done this 8 times in BBL.#RRvsSRH

— Sooraj Ayyappan (@SoorajAyyappan_) May 2, 2021