Where did it go wrong for SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL 2014

Sunrisers Hyderabad, the newest IPL franchise which started its journey in the year 2013, was touted to have the best bowling department. They had fast bowlers like Dale Steyn, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jason Holder, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Darren Sammy. Although picking up these many fast bowlers was never a good idea because IPL was to take place on tracks which are not very conducive to fast bowlers and also given the fact that at max the team would play only 3 fast bowlers at a time. Their team did not go for many spin options as they continued with Amit Mishra and Karn Sharma with inclusion of Parveez Rasool. With Amit Mishra around it had to be tough for Rasool to get a game. But as Amit Mishra`s performance started dying in IPL SRH gave Rasool a chance which he did grab with both hands.

In the fast bowling department, Dale Steyn spearheaded the attack and never performed like he does for his national side. He never looked motivated enough to produce that special performance for SRH. His performance declined as IPL7 progressed. He was hammered by his team mate AB DeVilliers for 24 runs in an over at the same venue as last year. If that was not enough, Yusuf Pathan took him apart for 26 runs in an over. Clearly, the bowler needs some rest to get back to his perfect mental shape. SRH failed to drop Steyn from the side even after not performing for what he was picked in the side.

SRH biggest concern turned out to be their batting. They had 3 brilliant openers in Dhawan, Finch and Warner. The task was to decide the best two who would open. And retrospectively, they very rightly chose the wrong combination. If this was not enough, they asked the ferocious and in form opener David Warner to bat in the middle order to strengthen it. That was the biggest blunder that SRH apart from the on field blunders. They batted, bowled and caught poorly in the most crucial matches. The only consolation their team had this year was Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Karn Sharma. Both of them bowled beautifully and were the wicket takers for their team.

SRH need to learn from the mistake they did while bidding for players. They forgot to get middle order batsmen and went for openers and bowlers. Surely, they need to pick up a batsman or two who can build innings in the middle. Also, they need to be pro-active rather than reactive. When they saw the underperforming Steyn they should have dropped him and given a chance to someone else. Well, Lets see what do SRH learn from this year`s IPL. Next year will be fresh start altogether.