Former Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody said the 2016 IPL champions having a majorly right-handed batting line-up was a problem which played a role in them going down to Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets in Friday's match of IPL 2023.
On a slow and low black soil pitch, Hyderabad's batting line-up struggled hugely to score 121/8 in their 20 overs. Moreover, they didn't have a left-handed batter in their top order, due to leaving out Abhishek Sharma for Anmolpreet Singh, with Washington Sundar being the lone left-handed batting option.
"The thing that screams out to me is that they left the auction table knowing they had a team full of right-handers. They released a left-hander in Nicholas Pooran who hit the winning run [for Lucknow on Friday] and they brought someone who was 30% more expensive, who is a right-hander (Harry Brook)....similar sort of impact player," said Moody on ESPNcricinfo's T20 Time Out show.
Krunal Pandya was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers for Lucknow, constantly attacking the stumps to pick a tidy 3/18 in his four overs of left-arm spin. Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra took 2/23 while Ravi Bishnoi had a scalp to his name to strangulate Hyderabad batting order.
"They left out Abhishek Sharma, a left-hander, so there's a lot of things to unpack. When they're going to play on surfaces like that ... when there is that tendency where you can be exposed by being very one dimensional on slow turning tracks, you are sitting ducks," added Moody.
The Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow has different pitches made of red and black soil, giving the KL Rahul-led side chance to field different playing elevens as per the make-up of the opposition line-up, which Moody felt is fine to make greater use of home advantage in IPL 2023.
"If the soil's there, and you're not trucking it in the day before the game, you play to your advantage.... it is your home venue. They would've known that Wood was potentially a little unwell 24-48 hours ago, and that would've confirmed which surface (they would've played on). And I'm sure they would've had a red and a black soil (pitch) prepared, and was an easy decision. Yeah, it is absolutely fine."