Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered their eighth defeat in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) as they failed to chase a small target of 125 runs against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Saturday (25 September) at Sharjah.
With this defeat against PBKS, SRH is now out of the race for qualifying for playoffs, having won just one game in their 9 matches. Though mathematically they might have an outside chance, more or less, their playoff chances are done.
As far as Kane Williamson-led SRH’s recent match against KL Rahul’s team is concerned, the Hyderabad-based franchise managed to restrict PBKS to a paltry 125/7 but the SRH batters were unable to get their team over the line.
The former South Africa cricketer Shaun Pollock in his recent interaction with Cricbuzz talked about SRH’s shortcomings in the batting department and slammed right-hand batter Kedar Jadhav for not performing despite regular selection.
“In batting, David Warner was out of the side, he's come back in. You can get into bad form. Manish Pandey tried to regroup given the situation but Kedar Jadhav, over all these years... He gets a decent salary to come out and play,” Pollock told Cricbuzz.
“We really are still asking - when is his performance coming to justify his continuous selection in the side? It is difficult to pick out one individual but over a space of eight games, surely people need to be producing more than what we've seen,” he added.
With the Hyderabad-based franchise unable to win games in IPL 2021, the 48-year-old talked about how difficult it is for the coaching staff considering they are trying to maintain a family environment.
“It is hard for the coaching staff to say anything because the environment you live in, it is supposed to be a family environment. It is difficult to have a go at players at times. But there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. (Trevor) Bayliss is supposed to be a fantastic guy, everyone loves him and talks about what a good coach he is,” the right-arm quick said.
The legendary all-rounder then pointed out the cricketers who are a part of this franchise are give everything they require from a relaxed environment to a good salary and hence Pollock believes the players will need to perform well at some point.
“What are the players actually doing to try and help them perform? You have a relaxed environment, you give them everything that they require. They are paid good money and, at some stage, players have got to start producing the goods,” the South African said.
“I feel for them, in their environment and the coaching staff. I know Tom Moody well, I know VVS (Laxman) and Murali (Muralitharan) will be trying his best. He will be coming up with plenty of ideas on how they can perform,” Pollock concluded.
As far as the Hyderabad-based franchise is concerned, after losing to PBKS, they will be taking on Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday (27 September) at Dubai.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
