IPL 2018: Five Biggest mistakes teams committed this week
There have been ample instances this week of team decisions going haywire, costing them the match.
5. SRH not promoting Shakib Al Hasan against KXIP
You don’t stand much of a chance when you’re caught in the middle of a ‘Gayle Storm’. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) understood the truth in that statement first hand when the ‘Universe Boss’ smashed an unbeaten knock 104 runs off just 63 deliveries to reach a total of 193 runs. KXIP needed to come in all guns blazing from the very first ball f their innings. Sadly, that didn’t happen as both their openers, Wriddhiman Saha (6) and Shikhar Dhawan (retired hurt for 0) departed without making a significant dent to the total.
Although Kane Williamson (54) and Manish Pandey (57*) put in valiant efforts to save the match, it wasn’t enough. What SRH needed was a significant partnership and experienced batsmen at the crease to work to that end. In such a situation, promoting the veteran, Shakib Al Hasan over the likes of Deepak Hooda in the batting order would’ve been the prescribed medication for the Hyderabad side.
SRH, however, chose not to bring in Hasan until it was too late. Coming in at the end of the 17th over, Hasan didn’t have much of a choice and the win was a lost cause by then. The mini-partnership between Pandey and Hasan was indicative of the damage that the duo could’ve inflicted on the opposition had Hasan been sent up the order; the latter scored 24 runs off 12 balls and remained unbeaten at the end of the innings as KXIP won the match by 15 runs.
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