SRH Needs to Adapt as Vettori States Not Every Match Will Provide Easy Pitches

Sunrisers Hyderabad have struggled to play outside their home stadium. They have not yet won any away match this IPL season and their last match against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede was another case of them struggling. They have won only two games till now and both of them were on their home field where the pitch was ideal for batting. They scored a huge 286 runs in one match and chased a huge target of 246 in another. These are the only instances when the team has seemed solid.

But not all grounds provide such simple pitches to bat on. In two other home matches they failed to score as much as they should. They scored 191 on one pitch where 220 should be the target and scored barely 153 on an even more tricky pitch. This is only worsening in away matches where they could not even manage to score 170 in a game.

Coach Daniel Vettori is aware of the trend but is not too concerned. According to him, the team needs to refrain from anticipating ideal conditions in each game. He stated that teams cannot dictate the pitch and at times it is about luck but still the team's job to learn and adapt. He feels that the team needs to acclimatize quickly when they are not in Hyderabad. This is the only way that they can perform well in away matches.

The recent match with Mumbai revealed how tough it could be with the pitch not being flat. The Wankhede pitch was slower than normal and SRH's openers were not able to score briskly. Despite not losing any wickets initially their 46 for no loss in the PowerPlay was not sufficient considering that they possess a strong batting line-up. It was only in the last two overs that Heinrich Klaasen and Aniket Verma played some major shots to take the total.

Mumbai’s bowlers were excellent. They made sure SRH’s main batsmen struggled. Three of the top four could not even score at a run-a-ball rate. Travis Head took 29 balls to score just 28 runs which was his slowest T20 innings where he faced more than 20 balls. Klaasen is usually aggressive but he also had to play slowly. His strike rate looked better only because of one good over at the end.

The dew factor arrived late in the game and assisted Mumbai in chasing the target comfortably. The SRH bowlers were unable to prevent them and the game got away. Vettori stated that some grounds such as Chennai and Ahmedabad also have challenging batting conditions. So SRH cannot anticipate good pitches in all cities. He felt that a score of 180 might have been enough but the way Mumbai batted in the middle overs made the chase easy for them.

Mumbai’s strategy with the ball was very smart. Their bowlers used slower deliveries perfectly. Out of 30 such balls they gave away only 36 runs. While they got only one wicket this way it created pressure and made scoring very hard. On the contrary SRH bowlers also employed slower balls but conceded 60 runs off 33 deliveries despite taking three wickets. The length and accuracy were not as good and dew provided extra difficulty for them.

Vettori complimented Mumbai for being able to read the pitch well and employing slower balls with excellent skill. He mentioned bowlers such as Bumrah and Trent Boult and also Hardik Pandya are masterful at that. Their performance made all the difference. According to Vettori, however, though SRH performed strongly towards the later part of the innings, middle order of SRH batting contributed the most hurt. The style of bowling at that time from Mumbai prevented SRH from making runs and completely turned the match.

It is evident that Sunrisers Hyderabad have to improve playing on harder pitches. They cannot count solely on home bias. If they are to achieve in this season they must adapt themselves quickly and play well on all types of pitches.