Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach, Tom Moody, dismissed any form of issues for their ace opener, Shikhar Dhawan, who is going through a dry spell since his elbow injury.
Dhawan had been in supreme touch since the ODI series against South Africa, right through the Nidahas Trophy.
In fact, during the initial stages of the IPL this season, Dhawan transferred his international form into the SRH camp with his unbeaten 78 against Rajasthan Royals.
“Shikhar came into this tournament in really good form. He showed that in early parts of the tournament. But then, he had a setback with an injury, and that has also set back his momentum a little bit,” told an optimistic Tom Moody to Hindustan Times.
Dhawan also scored a 45 versus Mumbai Indians before suffering a blow to the elbow while playing against Kings XI Punjab.
However, Dhawan was made to play on surfaces difficult for stroke play at Hyderabad since then.
Good players like Shikhar don’t suddenly disappear from the face of the earth: Moody
Which is the reason why he holds a moderate record of 198 runs in the nine outings so far in the tournament?
“He certainly doesn’t look to be a player out of form. So, for me, whether it is tomorrow night or next in Pune, he is going to make an impact,” added the Australian.
The heartening factor for Gabbar would be returning to his home ground at Delhi for the next assignment of Sunrisers against Delhi Daredevils.
Furthermore, the surface offered at Ferozshah Kotla proved to be bowlers’ graveyard this season.
“Good players like Shikhar don’t suddenly disappear from the face of the earth. They’ll come back and hurt someone. Maybe tomorrow night it is,” concluded Tom Moody.
The anomaly this season of IPL has been the slow, low turners presented at various venues.
Even Colin Munro took notice of the trend this season, where the pitch does not support stroke play, early in the matches.
“Some of the wickets have been a lot drier than they have in IPL in the past. The wicket last night (Rajasthan Royals beat Kings XI Punjab in Jaipur on Tuesday) started spinning from early on, which in powerplay is unusual,” Colin Munro remarked ahead of the upcoming game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
