IPL 2018: Ambati Rayudu Is Playing Really, Really Well: Kane Williamson

With just two games remaining before the playoffs take place, an eight-wicket thrashing was the last thing Sunrisers Hyderabad would have wanted. The Kane Williamson-led side boasts of the most potent attack in the competition. In a format where even 200 is not considered safe nowadays, they defended scores like 118 and 146.

However, on Sunday (May 13), the Chennai Super Kings gave them a beating they would remember for a long time. Nothing went right for the Sunrisers bowlers as the Super Kings blew them away to canter to a comprehensive win with utmost ease. Asked to bat first, the Sunrisers were off to a shaky start. They were one down and had managed just 29 in the first six overs.

However, Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson, fresh off their 176-run stand in the last game, put on yet another good show. Both the batsmen scored fifties, adding 123 runs to help their side recover from the poor start and post a challenging 179 for 4. But the score turned out to be too less in the end as the Super Kings reached home with an over remaining.

Ambati Rayudu was the architect of the win, scoring an unbeaten ton. Shane Watson also played his part by scoring 57 as Super Kings made it to the playoffs with their eighth win of the season.

There is a big possibility that Sunrisers and Super Kings will meet in the coming days again and Williamson admitted that his side needs new plans to counter the threat of Rayudu.

“We do our scouting, that is for sure,” Williamson told the media after the loss.

“I think everybody set plans for Rayudu, none of which has worked just yet. So we might have to try and think of a few more things when we come up against Chennai again. He is playing really, really well. Chennai certainly outplayed us today but it is important that we move on quickly,” he added.

The Sunrisers skipper further opined that the Super Kings bowlers were helped by the early swing they got for almost ten overs which was not the case when his side was bowling.

“Look, the amount of swing their bowlers were able to get certainly assisted and (helped in) how they operated. They bowled very well with it. You still have to bowl very good areas and they definitely did that. It would have been very nice if we (also) could get it swinging, something similar to what they did. They got considerable amount of swing and movement for eight or eight-and-a-half overs which made batting pretty tough initially. It certainly got a lot better. We perhaps would have liked a few more runs but I guess 180 is always a tough total to chase,” Williamson said.

“The wicket was a very good surface and Chennai batted beautifully. We could not get the ball to move. Perhaps it was just the change in conditions but they played extremely well so they deserved to win today,” he added.

The Kiwi star went on to lavish praise on Rayudu who has taken his run-tally to 535 in 12 games.

“He seems to be doing it every day. The way he goes about his business, hitting the ball hard and in conventional areas. It was a great knock to watch, (even) if you were in the opposition team,” he said.