Williamson has big role batting at No.4, feels Bayliss

There were arguments to promote Williamson, who batted at No.4, to third spot so that he can be up and running early.

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 20-run loss against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday complicated their chances of making to playoffs. With five losses from eight matches, the Hyderabad team is at fifth place in points table. Chasing a modest total of 168, SRH managed to score 147/8. Only Kane Williamson could offer some resistance with a 57-run knock but with climbing required run rate, the chase was always difficult with no wickets in hand.

There were arguments to promote Williamson, who batted at No.4, to third spot so that he can be up and running early. However, coach Trevor Bayliss thinks that there is a particular role for him at number 4. “Look, there is an argument for playing Williamson higher up the order, obviously he is a high-quality player, currently he is doing the job for us at number four and hopefully bat with some of the young guys in the lower middle order. His experience can help out the younger players. He is a very good player, if he bats at number three, he can play bigger knocks but playing at number four is his role right now,” said the coach after the match.

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Despite the loss, he was happy with the performances of the bowling unit, especially with Sandeep Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem. Sandeep picked up two wickets in his four overs for 19 runs. “It was pleasing to see Sandeep bowling so well upfront, he was outstanding in the first three overs he bowled. We felt the wicket was a lot drier so we went in with an extra spinner. I do not think we bowled particularly well against Sam Curran for a couple of overs. Obviously, Nadeem coming in and playing his first game, he did pretty well. Sandeep getting some confidence going ahead in the tournament augurs well for us. It’s not that often that both Warner and Bairstow will miss out. We expect them to make their fair share of runs going forward and if that happens, we will put a good score on the board,” he added.

Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming revealed that they wanted to do something different to stop the losing streak and sending Sam Curran to open the innings was the ploy. “We have had Sam padded up every time, looking to inject him into the innings but wickets have fallen. Rather than getting clogged up with probably too much batting resource, we thought we would be certain about Sam, put him up in front and see how he goes. That was the main reason. It was born out of our need to do something different because the trends of our losses were getting too familiar. So we needed to get Sam in the game and provide a little bit of momentum at the front.”

He further revealed that Curran was desperate to contribute for the team. “In terms of his contribution, so far he has exceeded what we wanted, probably not in his eyes because he is very competitive. Every time we set a challenge, he has risen to it. He has been desperate to make a difference with the bat. I think we saw a glimpse of potentially what he can do for us in the future,” Fleming said.

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