IPL 2019: SRH's ploy of backing their bowling has impressed Anil Kumble

Being a former bowler himself, Anil Kumble would always love to see his breed doing well against the batsmen to whose favour the game is perceived to be more tilted. And it is little surprising that the former India leg-spinner has found a favourite side in Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise which emphasises more on its bowling strength and did well to reach the final in the last year’s edition.

The Sunrisers team has a number of quality bowlers in Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Basil Thampi, Siddharth Kaul and others while there are also some handy batters in captain Kane Williamson, comeback man David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Martin Guptill, Shakib Al Hasan and together, the team can indeed be treated as a top contender for the title in IPL 2019. The Sunrisers had won the title in 2016 when they narrowly beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

“SRH have really done well in choosing their bowlers and backing their bowling strength and making sure that their bowling is stronger. Even when they go back to the auction, they look for back-ups to their bowling rather than their batting,” the 48-year-old former cricketer, who has the highest number of wickets in international cricket for India, said in a preview of the SRH to CricketNext.

‘Bowlers have more opportunity than batsmen in T20s’

The former India captain and coach said bowlers have more opportunity to play in a T20 compared to batsmen. He said a bowler has four overs to bowl in a match and can impact the game in those overs while a batsman, unless he is in the top three, has limited scope to influence the game since it is only a 20-over game.

Kumble also praised the SRH’s batting order and said there was little reason for it to get stagnant since there are diverse players who can influence games on their given day. He gave the examples, Bairstow, Warner, Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, and Kane Williamson.

On SRH’s chances of making the playoffs this season, Kumble said if the batsmen of the team back their bowlers, there is no reason they won’t qualify for the last four.

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