IPL 2022 | Moody bats for Williamson at the top

He has been struggling to stay at the crease. He has been struggling to rotate strike. He has been struggling to find the boundaries. Despite Kane Williamson going through a torrid run at the top of the order, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody backs the captain to the hilt.

World-class quality

“We have trusted Kane with his quality, there is no question of his world-class quality. So, that’s why we haven’t made that move because as we have seen throughout the tournament where the batting has been functioning really well,” Moody said on Saturday night after Sunrisers suffered its fifth consecutive defeat in the Indian Premier League 2022, versus Kolkata Knight Riders.

Moody was asked whether Williamson is blocking Rahul Tripathi’s chance to excel as an opener, a position where he has tasted most of his IPL success.

“Rahul Tripathi has batted exceptionally well at No. 3 and (Aiden) Markram has been one of the leading batters in the tournament at No. 4. So, we felt why change something that’s working for something that’s not working,” he said.

Williamson, with 208 runs in 12 matches so far at a strike rate of 92.86, is the only batter in IPL 2022 to have faced more than 150 balls and scored at less than a run a ball.

Having started the IPL with two losses, Sunrisers were on a five-match winning streak. It seems to be a fading memory, with five successive losses putting a question mark on its chances of making it to the Playoffs.

Loss of balance

Moody stressed on the mid-season injuries to Washington Sundar and T. Natarajan, two of its key bowlers, as the main reason for the loss of balance and rhythm.

“We did get on a nice winning roll, started to play some good cricket and had everyone available for selection and then we missed a game that we should have won to make it six in a row,” Moody said.

“Then we had injuries to Washington and Natarajan. Every team has their injuries, but they play pretty key roles for us in the side and that’s where I think we lost a little bit of confidence and also as a bowling unit a bit of rhythm to our game and method to our defence.”