GT vs SRH, IPL 2022: Why is Wriddhiman Saha's powerplay value underrated? And other burning questions
GT vs SRH, IPL 2022: Why is Wriddhiman Saha's powerplay value underrated? And other burning questions
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In a humdinger on Wednesday night we had Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia smash 22 off the final over in a sensational heist against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Needing 196 to win, Gujarat Titans were blown away by a fiery Umran Malik spell, but made a strong comeback late in the game. Here we dissect the match by raising a few burning questions.
How rarely does a batter take on Rashid Khan?
Only three batters had hit Rashid Khan for three or more sixes in an IPL innings before last night when Abhishek Sharma used the slog sweep mighty effectively against the Afghanistan leg-spinner. The others to do so are Manan Vohra in 2017, Chris Gayle in 2018 and Shimron Hetmyer in 2019.
Rashid Khan leaking 40 or more runs in T20 cricket is massive. How massive though? Since 2020, Rashid has conceded 40 or more runs in a T20 spell only thrice - a BBL game in 2021, a T20 Blast game and another IPL game in that same year. He has played over a 100 matches in this time frame and only twice gone for that many!
Abhishek hit Rashid along for 34 runs in 15 balls, making it the fourth-highest runs a single batter has made against Rashid in a T20 game. Oddly, Abhishek targeted Rashid and struck at a much lower rate (31 off 27 balls) against the rest last night.
Why has Aiden Markram excelled in the middle order role this season?
Aiden Markram averages a mind-blowing 123.0 in the IPL this season with him being dismissed only twice in six innings. The South African has aced the middle-order role this season, with his striking prowess evident from a rate of 148.19. What is notable is how Markram has picked and chosen his targets well. Markram used to struggle against spin, but this season has only been dismissed once in 81 balls, averaging 94 with the bat.
His scoring rate against spin is only 116.05, the fourth-lowest among batters to face 50 balls of spin this year. Only three batters have faced more balls of spin than Markram this year, meaning that opposition sides have tried to prick at his weakness. But Markram has been smart, batting out the spinners and mercilessly targeting the quicks. Against fast bowlers this season, Markram has a strike-rate of 178.8 with a boundary balls percentage of 23.5%.
Markram has only accelerated once he is settled down at the crease and the returns have been spectacular. Acing the code to pick and choose whom he attacks has seen Markram evolve as one of the best middle-order batters this IPL.
Why Wriddhiman Saha's powerplay value is underrated
Wriddhiman Saha was benched in the first few games in the season despite Gujarat Titans struggling to find an ideal opening partner for Shubman Gill. This is probably down to Saha having a poor season in 2021, where he averaged 14.5 with the bat while striking at a rate of less than 100.
But to be fair to Saha, his value is high in the powerplay overs where he likes to take on the bowlers. Since 2019, among Indians to face at least 150 balls in the powerplay, only Prithvi Shaw (SR of 148.78, Parthiv Patel (SR of 145.6), Suryakumar Yadav (141.9) and Manish Pandey (SR of 135.1) have a better rate of scoring than Saha (134.5).
The wicket-keeper batter has found a way to attack early, take pressure off his partner and maximise his powerplay value. While he couldn't quite do it in 2021, his returns in 2019 and 2020 is evidence to show he was a better pick than Matthew Wade at the top in these conditions.
Why Sunrisers deserve praise for getting the best out of Umran Malik
Umran Malik has been outrageous this season, taking a five-wicket haul last night to go up to second in the highest wicket-takers list this season. Umran's 15 wickets have come at an average of 15.9, but it's his economy rate that has stood out. After going at more than nine runs per over in each of his first four matches, Umran controlled it since the game against KKR. His economy rate in the last four matches is a brilliant 5.81.
To Sunrisers Hyderabad's credit, they have swayed away from the temptation of using Umran's overs in the death or inside the powerplay. 15 of Umran Malik's 16 overs in these four matches have come in the middle overs. Used as an enforcer in the middle overs, Umran has thrived with his pace and relentless accuracy. Four of his five victims last night were bowled, a feat only two others (Lasith Malinga in 2011 and Siddharth Trivedi in 2012) have achieved in an IPL game before.
What's been notable about Umran's usage is the unique fieldset Kane Williamson has for him. Against Shreyas Iyer, for instance, in the match against KKR, Umran had all five outfielders behind the batter and then set Iyer up for the pull shot before unleashing a furious yorker. Against Hardik Pandya last night, the deep third man was so fine that he was nearly behind the keeper and when bounced the top edge flew to the exact same fielder as Umran struck again.
How underrated is Rashid Khan the batter?
"I was just trying to play my game and have the belief in my batting which I've been working on the last two years," Rashid Khan said at the end of the game. The Gujarat Titans player has been edging close to being called an all-rounder in recent years in T20 cricket with last night's exceptional 11-ball 31* his second high-impact knock in IPL 2022.
Rashid had also slammed 40 in 21 balls against CSK earlier in the season. For a player in the lower order, Rashid's ability to churn out these kinds of knocks time and again is commendable. In the PSL earlier in the year, Rashid batted just five times in which three of them were 17* (4), 22* (8) and 15* (8). Specialising in mini cameos, Rashid has batting ability above that of an average lower order batter.
One point from Kevin Pietersen from the commentary box last night, though, stands out. Rashid has often looked to play the helicopter shot or the sling shot without a full extension of his arms, and while they look exceptional on camera, nothing comes close to full-blooded bat swings, and in the last over Rashid vindicated Pietersen's analysis with three proper bat swings for sixes.
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