Current Sunrisers Hyderabad batting coach legend Brain Lara claims that the Hyderabad-based side is better off without Rashid Khan in the line-up. Before the beginning of the IPL 2022 season, many cricket experts criticized SRH management for releasing Rashid Khan ahead of IPL 2022 mega auction.
Brain Lara on Rashid Khan’s Absence
In the current IPL season, SRH have won five games out of 7 they played and holds the second position in the IPL 2022 points table. Though SRH lost their first two matches, they made a strong comeback and won their next 5 outings.
In their recent match against Faf du Plessis-led RCB, SRH’s bowling unit made an exceptional performance by wrapping the 1st innings for just 68 runs in 16.1 overs and made RCB to register their second-lowest score in IPL history.
SRH won the game in just 8 overs and registered their 5th victory of the season. After the match, SRH’s batting coach Brian Lara explained that their team is better without Rashid in the bowling line-up.
Lowest Scores in the History of IPL #RCBvSRH pic.twitter.com/jh6YeUqsBy
— Times of Sports (@timesofsports) April 23, 2022
Lara claimed that Rashid was not a wicket-taker for the Sunrisers as the other teams looked to play him out defensively.
“I have a great respect for Rashid Khan but I believe we have the right combination. Rashid Khan was someone who opposition teams decided to defend against, he was not much of a wicket-taker,” Lara told broadcaster Star Sports after his team’s win against Faf du Plessis’ RCB.
“Yes (economy of) 5.5-6 runs per over is great, but I think when you have a guy like Washington Sundar spinning the ball into the left-handers in the first six overs, he is an asset. Suchith has come in as his replacement due to injury and he is an asset as well,” Lara further added.
SRH’s inability to hold on to Rashid Khan after losing their stalwarts like David Warner and Jonny Bairstow was being looked at as a huge loss, considering Rashid’s incredible footprint in the game.
The team, however, chose to replace him with Indian Washington Sundar, Jagadeesha Suchith and mystery spinner Shreyas Gopal. While Gopal has not gotten a game yet, the other two have been quite successful till this point.
Suchith proved his worth to the squad after Washington injured the webbing of his bowling hand, and at the moment looks undroppable from the line-up.
“We have gone in with four fast bowlers every single game so far. Of course, the pitches may change, they may have less grass later on. We have Shreyas Gopal as well, though he hasn’t had a game so far. He is also someone who has a hat-trick in the IPL,” Lara said.
In IPL 2022 season, Rashid Khan have bagged 8 wickets out of 7 matches he played so far with an economy rate of 6.50. On bowling 28 overs, Rashid Khan spilled only 182 runs while current IPL 2022 Purple cap holder Chahal spilled 204 runs on bowling the same 28 overs with 18 wickets under hsi name
Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Gujarat Titans on April 27 to play the 40th league match of the IPL 2022 season. Notably, Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans have lost only one match so far in this season that too Gujarat has lost the match to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
