Trevor Bayliss, who is the head coach of SunRisers Hyderabad clarified that batting mainstay New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson batted at No. 4 position to guide the youngsters in the lower middle batting order.
Trevor Bayliss made the observation after CSK beat SRH by 20 runs in the return leg. SRH won the first encounter in IPL 2020 against CSK by 7 runs. CSK posted 167/6 after Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu scored in the 40s to guide CSK to a reasonably respectable total. The cameo of Sam Curran who opened and MOM Ravindra Jadeja who took CSK to a respectable score by batting well in death overs were also useful to the team’s cause.
Trevor Bayliss: Kane Williamson Is A High-Quality Batsman Who Bats At No.4 To Help Youngsters In Lower Middle Order
Kane Williamson scored 57 from 39 balls with four boundaries but SRH ended on 147/8, 20 runs short of CSK’s score. Trevor Bayliss clarified that the Black Caps skipper is a high-quality player who uses his experience to guide youngsters like Priyam Garg who bats after him.
“There is an argument for that obviously. He is a high quality player. At the moment, he is playing the role for us at No.4 and hopefully bat with some of those young guys in the lower middle-order and use his experience to help them out.”
“He is a very good player. If he bats at No.3, he could make bigger scores but that’s his role at the moment, to bat at No.4 for us,” Trevor Bayliss added.
Kane Williamson has played in six matches in IPL 2020 and scored 152 runs averaging 38 with one fifty and a strike rate of more than 140. He achieved his highest score of 57 in the lost cause against CSK. He didn’t play the initial couple of matches.
Trevor Bayliss: Shane Watson Done Well But CSK Were Probably Looking For Left Right Opening Combination
CSK team management shocked everyone when they sent left-handed Sam Curran to open ahead of veteran Shane Watson but it paid off as he scored a brisk 31 from 21 balls with three boundaries and two sixes. Another opener Faf Du Plessis scored a duck but No. 3 batsman Shane Watson top-scored with 42.
“Watson has done pretty well for them over the last few games. Probably a left-right combination at the top of the order. Sam is a good striker of the ball with the newer ball coming on.”
“I don’t think we bowled particularly well to him for a couple of overs. And obviously Watson coming in at No.3 is not too different from opening the batting.”
“You want to target the shorter side of the boundary but if the opposition don’t give you that opportunity, it makes it very difficult. That is probably one area where we have got to do a little bit better from the bowling point, to make the batters hit to the larger side of the ground.”
“You saw with Bravo bowling, he made it very difficult to hit to the short side of the wicket. But that’s the experience of the guy who has been playing top-level cricket for 20 years,” he added.
SRH could only score 147/8 after Dwayne Bravo conceded only one run besides picking a wicket while Shardul Thakur bowled the penultimate over which went for only five runs. The 18th over-saw 19 runs but the CSK bowlers restricted SRH batsmen who could not score the necessary 27 runs in last two overs. Karn Sharma and Dwayne Bravo took two wickets each while Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur took one wicket apiece.