If your top batsmen are not scoring at strike-rate over 150, don’t expect to win T20 matches this IPL. The Sunrisers Hyderabad kept this factor in their mind during their 167-run chase against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Their captain David Warner scored at a brilliant strike rate of 211.11 while KL Rahul, who is known for his Test cricket skills, had a strike-rate of 157.14. This was good enough for Shikhar Dhawan to anchor the innings and remained unbeaten till his team sealed the match in their favour.
In sharp contrast, AB de Villiers was the only one from the RCB who batted with a dazzling strike-rate of 164.28. None of the other batsmen in his team could make it count. RCB captain Virat Kohli did make 41 at the top of the order, but his strike rate was only 110.81.
In the previous matches too, the ones with the maximum strike-rates have crossed the finish line successfully. The trend is that at least two batsmen have to score above 150 plus strike-rate to win matches. On Sunday, the Kings won because both Virender Sehwag and George Bailey scored at strike-rate of 120.68 and 190.62 respectively.
However, the Delhi Daredevils had three top batsmen who had a strike-rate of above 150, but the Rajasthan Royals still won the match because they had five batsmen who scored at a strike-rate of above 150. Last time, the Sunrisers lost their match against the Chennai Super Kings as none of them could score at strike-rate of 150.
In fact, Rajasthan Royals’ first victory against the Kings XI Punjab was possible due to Deepak Hooda, who had a strike rate of 200 and was well supported by James Faulkner with a rate of 139.39. So, the morale of the story is to keep striking the ball hard!
