‘Early signs of last-2 contenders. Depth lacking in all departments’: India great identifies ‘terrible’ IPL franchise

SRH were hardly ever in the game as their batting and bowling failed to click in the first match that followed a season in which they finished last in the league table.

Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth hailed the Rajasthan Royals for their performance. On the other hand, he said that SRH have already become an early contender to finish in the bottom two.

“A great outing for @rajasthanroyals ! All around super peformance and looks like a top 4 contendor! Terrible for #SRH , team composition , depth in all departments is lacking, early signs of a last 2 contender for them #SRHvRR,” said Srikkanth in a tweet.

Earlier, former India opener Wasim Jaffer said that he couldn’t understand why SRH was batting all-rounder Washington Sundar at No.8. Sundar smashed 40 runs in just 14 balls.

RR scored 210/6 batting first with captain Sanju Samson scoring a half century. Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer all made useful contributions as well and in response, SRH were restricted to 149/7. They were tottering at 37/5 in the 11th over and were 78/6 in the 16th before Sundar’s assault got them close to the 150-run mark.

“Washington Sundar surely has to bat above number 8. I don’t think you are achieving anything from him by making him bat there,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.

“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,” he said.