The Sunrisers Hyderabad were completely blown away by the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on the 4th of May. Batting first, the Knight Riders posted a healthy total of 167 in their allocated 20 overs. The visitors were greatly dependent on their opening combo of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan to fire and do the bulk of the scoring.
But Umesh Yadav punctured the chase in the very first over by dismissing Warner of a ripper of a delivery which castled the dynamic southpaw. The brittle and inexperienced middle order of the Sunrisers never got going and the hosts were simply too good for them.
The Sunrisers surely need to get their strategies right and in place. Their opening pair of Warner and Dhawan has scored 48% of the aggregate team total. When 48% of the runs are scored by just one pair, then there is something horribly wrong with the batting.
Tom Moody, the head coach of the Hyderabad side though said that playing in hostile conditions away from home hampered the Sunrisers. Moody credited the Knight Riders and said that they were simply formidable at home.
The coach of the Sunrisers Hyderabad said, “We lost a couple of early wickets and then we got exposed in conditions that were very challenging. We always knew coming here it would be a tough match. KKR have a firm grip on their home conditions, a team that is well balanced and suited to bowling in this turning and slow conditions. Only taking them out of this environment you can have an evenly matched contest.”