IPL 2019: It’s upto Manish Pandey to turn things around, says SRH head coach Tom Moody

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team is facing a dilemma at the moment with their top order starting to falter and middle order batting almost disappearing into nothing. The team has lost three games in a trot and that too at their home at the RGI Stadium in Hyderabad and have slumped to no.6 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 points table with only three wins in seven matches.

Once, one of the most formidable bowling sides, SRH is finding it difficult to keep the runs from leaking as their fast bowlers are taken to the cleaners in almost every game, and against MI recently, they recorded their first score of less than 100 in IPL history, as they were bowled out for 96 runs, chasing a paltry total of 136 runs. Even the return of Kane Williamson in the batting lineup has not stopped the downfall of IPL 2016 champions.

One of the biggest reasons is the middle order of Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, and Yusuf Pathan failing to come to the party when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have failed to make runs. Neither the middle order has been able to provide impetus in the death overs and this has hurt team badly and coach Tom Moody is at his wit’s end.

Manish hasn’t quite hit the ground running in these two seasons

Manish Pandey became a known quantity in IPL when in the 2009 season, he became the first Indian batsman to make a century. He was the Man of the Finals for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when they won their second IPL title in 2014. But ever since joining Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pandey’s form has been scratchy at the best.

Pandey has made 54 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 93.10 and hasn’t hit a single six this season. His highest score of 19 this season is his sixth highest overall for the franchise – he has only five scores of 20-plus in 18 innings overall. “Obviously Manish hasn’t quite hit the ground running in the last season and a bit,” Moody was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“In the last year and the start of this season. No one will be more disappointed than Manish himself. He’s a player that’s got a lot of pride in his game and he’s a good performer. He came into this season in some good form as well, having scored runs in the domestic season and having captained his side to victory. So, it hasn’t quite worked out for him, to this point. It’s really down to him to turn things around. I think that’s what’s the exciting part for him and for us. He still will have an opportunity to turn things around and have an impact this season,” Moody further stated.

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