IPL 2022: Sanjay Manjrekar Hails Franchise For Pace Attack With Quality And Variety

SunRisers Hyderabad started their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season slow, but have come back with all guns blazing, winning four matches on the trot. A large reason behind their success has been their pace attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik and Marco Jansen. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar was all praise for the team's pace attack, saying it had a lot of variety, which allowed them to do well as they could use different approaches to ensure they didn't let the opposition run away with the game.

The pacers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik, starred in SRH's most recent win, which came against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo during the mid-innings break after SRH bowled PBKS out for 151, Manjrekar said: "We have quality and a lot of attacks in the IPL, but SRH have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowls slowly but wisely. They've got Natarajan who'll get you wickets in all phases and then they've got somebody like Umran Malik, who will get you wickets with just pace. Marco Jansen had a slightly off-day in comparison, but he adds another kind of variety."

"So not only is there quality, but you saw the different ways in which they stay in the game constantly, those fast bowlers," he went on to say.

He also praised Kane Williamson's captaincy and his usage of the pacers, especially giving the difficult overs to the more experienced Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan, while allowing the young Malik to shine without pressure.

"Kane Williamson has been brilliant with the pace bowlers. Natarajan bowled the fifth, then he bowled the 14th, 16th and 18th. Those are the tough overs where the game can go one way or another," he said.

"Bhuvneshwar Kumar, interestingly, bowled the first and the third over and then he bowled the 17th and the 19th. Experienced guys have been given the tough overs while this young sensation has been allowed to blossom," Manjrekar said.

SRH went on to chase down the target with seven deliveries and as many wickets to spare and are now fourth in the IPL 2022 points table.

Topics mentioned in this article

Sunrisers Hyderabad Umran Malik Bhuvneshwar Kumar IPL 2022 Cricket Sanjay Manjrekar