"Right time to drop" - Virender Sehwag urges SRH to bench skipper Kane Williamson for their remaining IPL 2022 matches

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has stated that SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) should consider dropping skipper Kane Williamson for their remaining two matches in IPL 2022.

Speaking on Cricbuzz following SRH's 54-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sehwag pointed out that Williamson has failed to contribute significantly with the bat this season. He suggested that the team could look to try to replace him with a youngster in their upcoming fixtures.

He emphasized that SRH have struggled because of their captain's dismal batting form. Sehwag opined that the New Zealander should look to take a break and hand over the leadership of the team to some other player.

"How will the team fight when their leader isn't doing well? Kane Williamson will have to score runs and that too at a better strike rate. His partner Abhishek Sharma is trying to make the most of the powerplay, but isn't getting the support from the other end. Kane Williamson should take a break and give the captaincy to someone else. This is the right time to drop Williamson."

Sehwag further added that it was important for Williamson to score big in the crucial tie against KKR. However, the Kiwi captain once again couldn't get going.

"We all expected Kane Williamson to fire with the bat today. But things did not change. He was again dismissed early and even the other batters did not stand up. SRH haven't been playing that well lately. You need to play 40 overs of good cricket to win a match."

It is worth mentioning that the star batter has managed just 208 runs from 12 matches this season. He has an underwhelming batting average of 18.91 along with an ordinary strike rate of 92.86 to his name in this edition of IPL.

"It was just a formality in the second innings" - Virender Sehwag on KKR's 54-run win over SRH

The Kolkata-based side posted an impressive total of 177 after electing to bat first at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Sehwag reckoned that SRH bowlers leaked a lot of runs and were never in the game after the first innings.

He highlighted how chasing has been difficult at the venue in recent games and KKR's victory was inevitable once they put runs on the board. The Indian legend believes that Shreyas Iyer and Co. would have been victorious even if they had registered a total of 150 on that wicket.

"Even if KKR had scored 150, it would have been enough on this wicket. We saw how GT defended such a score against LSG at this venue. SRH allowed KKR to score a lot of runs on such a wicket. It was just a formality in the second innings."

Meanwhile, the Kane Williamson-led side are currently placed eighth in the IPL 2022 points table. They have 10 points at this juncture and will finish at 14 even if they manage to secure wins in their last two encounters.