IPL 2019: Kane Williamson will return when he is fit, says Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Hyderabad: The winning streak of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) came to an end as the Mumbai Indians thumped the home team by a huge 40-run margin. The major talking point about their defeat was their middle-order who never gave the confidence of winning the game. Even against the Delhi Capitals, the batsmen walking at No.4 and lower position looked rusty. These struggles have led to the discussion of bringing back their skipper Kane Williamson.

The Kiwi star, nursing a shoulder injury, has missed four out of the five matches his team played this season. In his absence, Jonny Bairstow at the top and Mohammad Nabi with the ball used the opportunities to make a case for playing more matches. With David Warner and Rashid Khan already in their ranks, there were talks of Williamson remaining on the bench for major part despite regaining his fitness.

However, the SRH’s stand-in captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar confirmed that the New Zealand batsman will walk into the playing XI and lead the team once he is fit. Bhuvneshwar said that he is quite happy with the performances of the overseas group and the selection of overseas players will be difficult but that is not their concern. He called for better application from the middle-order who have struggled to get going for the 2nd time in two games during a chase under 140.

“When Kane (Williamson) will be fit, he will come back as he is the captain,” remarked the interim skipper. “If you have 5 or 6 overseas players performing consistently, it is a good sign for any team. It will be difficult to decide (4 overseas spots), but it is not really a concern.”

“We couldn’t capitalize on the good start. We needed to have partnerships of 20-25 runs in the middle which we didn’t do. That is something we needed to address before going into the next match,” he added.

130 should have been chased on any surface

After two high-scoring pitches, the RGI cricket stadium in Hyderabad produced a tricky track for the batters. The rain on the eve of the game and during the afternoon seems to have affected the pitch as it looked a little damp and anything over 140 looked like a winning total.

“The pitch was little damp and on the slower side and wasn’t an easy track for the batsmen. But 130 is a chase-able score. We just needed partnerships from the middle-order which we didn’t get.” concluded Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

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