Teams Status

Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only side that remains winless and point-less in the tournament so far. For a side that finished third last year, much was expected of the Orange Army but they have begun the 2021 edition with three straight defeats – all three of which were unsuccessful run chases. In their defence, all three were by close margins as well.

Truth be told, with the exception of the first defeat to KKR where they had to chase 188, the subsequent two matches offered quite modest targets of 150 and 152 but the SRH batters, even in a famously batting paradise such as IPL, could not get the job done.

Against RCB, they were cruising at 96-1 before finishing 143-9 as their middle order collapsed despite the groundwork laid by their captain David Warner and Manish Pandey. And against Mumbai Indians, they were again 67-0 and well in control before folding for 137.

SRH’s middle and lower order batters will have to get their act together if they are to get off the mark and vacate the bottom of the table.

Punjab Kings have fared little better, and had Rajasthan’s Sanju Samson not been unlucky in their opening match, the Kings, too, would have been sitting with zero points to their name.

Unlike SRH, the Kings have batted first in all three matches. Apart from their astonishing collapse in their defeat to CSK when they managed just 106 runs, their batting has clicked, piling up 221 in their first match, against the Royals, and 195 in their latest one against Delhi Capitals.

They’ve been more consistently been let down by their bowling. A mammoth score of 221 against RR should have been defended with ease but Punjab bowlers still saw the match go down to the wire. Then against Delhi their batters had again put together a decent score of 195 but the bowlers could not get the job done.

A simple look at Punjab’s bowling unit shows that they do not have the oomph that others have. When that’s the case, pace spearhead Mohammad Shami and other role players will have to carry the workload.