IPL 2023: 'We are losing a lot of wickets in clumps' - Brian Lara decodes SRH's poor run of form

IPL 2023: SunRisers Hyderabad is off to a losing start in its opening two games of the season, with its recent defeat coming to Lucknow Super Giants. Meanwhile, head coach Brian Lara feels losing wickets in a heap has been the reason for its downfall.

Former champion SunRisers Hyderabad's (SRH's) inability to hold its wickets against quality bowling came to the fore in the match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and their chief coach Brian Lara pointed out that "losing a lot of wickets in clumps" was not helping matters. SRH lost its second consecutive game in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, suffering another big defeat on Friday, with the team putting just 121 runs on the board and LSG racing to the target in just 16 overs.

"I think we are losing a lot of wickets in clumps. In the first game, we lost two wickets in the first over. Tonight [Friday], we lost three wickets in seven balls which changed the game's complexion. So, we have to look at our batting and devise a solution for it," said the West Indian great during the post-match press conference.

SRH lost the wickets of Anmolpreet Singh, captain Aiden Markram and Harry Brook in just seven balls in the eighth and ninth overs to slide to 55/4 and could never recover from the shock on a spin-friendly wicket. LSG left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya caused mayhem at the top, removing opener Anmolpreet, Mayank Agarwal and Markram to emerge as the most successful bowler for the winners with figures of 3/18.

Lara also said the wicket needed to be more conducive for stroke play, which contributed to his batters being unable to set a par score. "I think we didn't play on a pitch conducive to proper strokeplay today. I'm not using that as an excuse, but I think we must improve our batting," he added.

However, the coach defended the decision to bat first as he thought the pitch would deteriorate in the second innings, making the task for his slow bowlers to attack easier. But Lara needed to figure out his fragile batting line-up, one of the weakest among the ten teams in the fray.

"The pitch was always going to be a turner. Getting the better part of the pitch would be rewarding for us. It was going to deteriorate. We also felt there was little dew on the ground. I thought that there was nothing to worry about," continued Lara. He said a total in the vicinity of 150-160 would be par for the course, but unfortunately, his batters couldn't achieve the target.

"Then, 150-160, you would have seen a different story. As I said, we lost three wickets in seven balls, which stopped our progress. We weren't going very quickly, but we decided that a total of 140 to 160 would be something we would be happy with. Well, the pitch was not conducive to proper strokeplay, as simple as that. But both teams had to play on it. It could have been more (LSG) bowled better, and they batted better than us on the pitch. So, we have to take responsibility as a team and try to pick ourselves for the next game in less than 48 hours," added Lara.

Lara also conceded LSG's slow bowlers exploited the conditions better and outsmarted his batters. "Both teams relied on the spin. [Amit] Mishra, Krunal, and [Ravi] Bishnoi from LSG bowled well. The ball spun, and they bowled smartly, with the fast bowlers also using the slower balls, the cutters well. As I said, they bowled a lot better, and when they started bowling spin, good spin and good cutters, it became difficult for the batters," he explained.

"So, even though at one stage we were getting to that first strategic timeout having lost only one wicket, I wasn't too worried about the run rate. If we kept going at six runs an over, we could get to seven and eventually eight. But, during that time, we lost Anmolpreet, captain Markram and Brook. It killed us at that point," affirmed Lara.

Lara said while he had two top-notch spinners in his ranks, an extra spinner would have given the team an advantage. "Well, we had Washi [Washington Sundar] and Adil Rashid, two excellent international spinners. Markram has bowled well in the recent past playing in SA20. It's a situation where you felt that an extra spinner would have done well. But, you know, the fast bowlers can work the ball on pitches such as that, so we wanted to make sure that we had a well-balanced attack," he concluded.

(With inputs from PTI)