April 25 (Punjab Khabarnama) : It’s astonishing how an innovation introduced for one purpose ends up having the diametrically and dramatically opposite effect.
Contrary to popular perception, the Impact Player rule of 2023 wasn’t so much to arm franchises with an additional batting option as fortify bowling resources so that most didn’t have to rely on semi-full-timers to make up the fifth bowler’s quota of overs. That’s why Rajasthan Royals, for instance, are able to field Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin (all internationals) simultaneously. Or Delhi Capitals are in a position to summon Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel (again, all internationals).
While the intent might have been to empower the bowlers — and many franchises have made capital of this novelty – it has also served to open the eyes of teams to the possibilities that abound in the face of a crisis. The luxury of requisitioning an extra batter if the need arises has triggered a tectonic change in batting mindsets, which is why the last 12 matches have seen 12 scores of 200 or more, and four totals in excess of 250 have already been registered.
Three of those 250-plus tallies have been realised by the team that finished at the bottom of the pile in 2023. Sunrisers Hyderabad ended Season 16 with four wins from 14 games; armed with a vastly changed mindset and fortified by the induction of two key players, the 2016 champions have redefined the art of T20 batsmanship this time. At the halfway stage of their league campaign, SRH already have more wins than they managed in the whole of 2023, and not by accident, either.
In the closed season, one of the biggest changes to the SRH set-up was the arrival of Daniel Vettori as the head coach. The former New Zealand captain became the franchise’s fourth coach in as many years, succeeding West Indian great Brian Lara, whose immediate predecessors had been Tom Moody (2022) and Trevor Bayliss (2021). This constant reshuffle at the top can be construed as pressing the panic button in a knee-jerk reaction to lack of success but clearly, while appointing Vettori, the SRH management group knew what it was getting into.
Unlike Moody, or even Lara, Vettori has practical and deep knowledge of T20 cricket. He first led and then coached Royal Challengers Bengaluru (from 2014 to 2018) and his contemporariness extends to being the Australian men’s team’s spin bowling coach currently. Vettori had his task cut out; he had to find a new skipper to replace Aiden Markram, clearly out of his depth in that role the previous year. In the mini auction, he also had to augment resources if the franchise was to maximise the batting potential coiled within its ranks.
SRH identified Pat Cummins to lead their challenge. The WTC and 50-over World Cup-winning Australian captain hadn’t captained a franchise previously, but his pedigree and reputation made it a no-brainer once the call to install a skipper captain was made. SRH went all out in the December auction in Dubai, shelling out ₹20.50 crores to requisition Cummins’ services. It might have appeared an obscenely insane amount of money – it probably is, too, to be honest! – but it has been worth every rupee, providing a lot more bang for the buck than the ₹24.75 crores for which Kolkata Knight Riders procured Mitchell Starc.
Cummins was only one piece, however massive and influential, of the jigsaw. SRH then pulled off another coup by snaring Travis Head, Cummins’ game-changer in Test and ODI finals against India, for a relatively modest ₹6.8 crores. Clearly, stung by the disappointment of the previous year’s meltdown and the pressing need to rebuild in the post David Warner-Jonny Bairstow-Rashid Khan era, SRH had done their homework assiduously. Head has been the primary enforcer in the Powerplay alongside fellow left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma. They have gotten off to blazing starts – including adding 125 in the six Powerplay overs against Delhi Capitals – and set the tone for the likes of Markram, the irrepressible Heinrich Klaasen, the cheeky Abdul Samad and the impressive Nitish Kumar Reddy to capitalise towards the backend.
Wanindu Hasaranga’s unavailability for the season is a downer, no doubt, and even more so considering SRH had only to spend ₹1.5 crores on the ace Sri Lankan leggie, but that purchase too pointed to the shrewdness they had brought to the auction table. Their resurgence this year is on the back of their exploits on the park, of course, but the seeds were sowed a lot earlier. With Vettori as the fruit-bearing centrepiece.