Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to their second defeat, in as many matches, on Saturday night as Kolkata Knight Riders beat them comfortably by 7 wickets.
David Warner won the toss and elected to bat first but the team managed to post just 142 in their 20 overs. A total that Kolkata chased down with 2 overs to spare.
Sometime during Kolkata’s chase, the official broadcaster managed to get Kane Williamson on for a sideline interview and after being constantly asked about his injury and availability, the Kiwi skipper confirmed that he is available for selection, if the team chose to play him.
"Body's pretty good. A small niggle early, but fine at the moment," Williamson said. When asked directly if he was available to play the next game he said, "Yeah, available, ready. I guess it's always the balance between the players you want to pick, the areas you want to address and the surfaces that you are presented with and the opposition."
Sunrisers Hyderabad have opener Jonny Bairstow and David Warner along with bowler Rashid Khan playing both matches so far. Mitch Marsh completed the quota of 4 overseas players in their opening game but with the Aussie now out of the tournament due to an ankle injury, SRH chose to play Mohammad Nabi on Saturday- once again leaving out their 2018 season’s skipper on the sidelines.
In the match against RCB, the entire batting order was bowled out for 153 with Bairstow top-scoring with a 43-ball 61. Against KKR on Saturday, Manish Pandey scored a half century even as the team managed just 142 after electing to bat first in Abu Dhabi.
The solution to their batting woes, according to Twitter at least, is to bring Kane into the line-up. That however will mean the team will need to make Nabi make way for the Kiwi. An all-rounder being replaced by a batter, even though the Afghan player had a good outing on Saturday, conceding just 23 runs in his 4 overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad play their next match on 29 September against Delhi Capitals, giving them just about 2 days to figure out the right combination.
Fans on twitter though, have made their stand quite clear:
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)