Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer reckons Sunrisers Hyderabad aren’t achieving anything from Washington Sundar by making him bat at number eight.
Sundar, who has the skills to contribute with the bat, batted at number eight in the team’s opening match of IPL 2022 against Rajasthan Royals at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Tuesday, which Orange Army lost by a huge margin of 61 runs.
Sundar was a positive for Sunrisers Hyderabad along with Aiden Markram after their dismal batting show against the inaugural champions. The left-hander was able to hit the ground running and took the attack against the RR bowlers to give some respect to SRH’s batting.
Sundar scored a quickfire knock of 40 runs off just 14 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes. The southpaw scored his runs at a strike rate of 285.71 to give some kind of momentum to their batting innings.
Jaffer reckons SRH can promote Sundar to number three to get the best out of his batting abilities in the upcoming matches. Sundar has shown great promise with the bat and he can deliver the goods with the bat in the middle order.
Jaffer said while talking to ESPN Cricinfo: “Washington Sundar surely has to bat above number 8. I don’t think you are achieving anything from him by making him bat there. He needs to bowl a couple of overs in the powerplay and has to bat at 6 or 7. If needed, you can also promote him to number 3 or 4. That short little innings would have given him a lot of confidence.”
On the other hand, Nicholas Pooran was dismissed for a duck while trying to play across the line against Trent Boult. Jaffer reckons Pooran should have played out Boult as he was bowling his third over.
“Nicholas Pooran needed to play out the powerplay and could have played out Trent Boult as well because he was bowling his 3rd over. He could have waited for Nathan Coulter-Nile or the spinners. But I don’t think he took the right option. It’s okay to get out on zero, but the shot he tired is questionable.”
Kane Williamson-led team will next face Lucknow Super Giants on Monday at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy.
