New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) failed to go past Delhi Capitals in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday in Vizag and while pundits spoke about how the DC youngsters put up a brilliant show, one cant ignore the fact that SRH missed the services of the duo of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow at the top of the innings.
With both Warner and Bairstow leaving for their respective preparatory camps for the World Cup, Hyderabad were forced to open with Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha. And the duo failed to recreate the magic that saw Warner and Bairstow take the opposition bowlers to the cleaners at the top of the innings.
Batting at the top for SRH, the duo of Warner and Bairstow scored 1145 runs with Warner getting 692 of them and Bairstow hitting 445 runs from 10 games. They played an integral part in SRH starting the season on a winning note. While the performance of SRH deteriorated after their exit, the early kickstart ensured the Hyderabad-based franchise qualified for the playoffs with just 12 points.
Guptill and Saha failed to rise to the challenge and the responsibility seemed to be too huge for them. While Guptill could manage only 81 runs in the three matches that he played, Saha hit a dismal 53 runs in his three innings that he opened in. The result was there for all to see as SRH could manage only 54/1 in the powerplay, having lost the wicket of Saha for 8 in the fourth over against Delhi Capitals.
Williamson too accepted that the team missed the two swashbuckling openers at the top of the innings. "Warner and Bairstow were brilliant when they were here and they were prolific with the bat. We were without them for the last two or three games, but we still played very well despite missing them," he said.