SRH vs PBKS, IPL 2024: Franklin credits Abhishek-Tripathi partnership for Sunrisers’ win vs Kings

“A great partnership between Abhishek and Rahul laid the foundation for that chase. And, then the others, they came in and just continued it on,” said Franklin.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek Sharma in action. | Photo Credit: PTI

Sunrisers Hyderabad pace bowling coach James Franklin praised the partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi which laid the platform for the side’s four-wicket win against Punjab Kings in the last IPL league match here on Sunday 

“A great partnership between Abhishek and Rahul laid the foundation for that chase. And, then the others, they came in and just continued it on,” said Franklin. 

Franklin informed the media after the match that they had been picking their squads very much on a game-by-game basis, referring to Tripathi’s selection.

“And, we went with the extra batters today as opposed to the extra bowler. And it worked in terms of using Rahul in the way that he did,” he said.

“As we move forward into the playoffs, again, the selection debate will happen and we’ll work out what our best squad is for whoever we play and whatever game we play. I think that’ll be good,” Franklin said.

On Abhishek Sharma’s six-hitting ability, Franklin said he had been outstanding. “He’s totally transformed his game and really taken this IPL on. It’s been brilliant to watch,” he said. 

“Well, I think when you’ve got such a high-quality player like Klaasen in our team when they’ve probably had a couple of games pushed by their own standards, they’re probably not entirely happy with how quickly they work out what they need to do to make those little subtle improvements moving forward,” Franklin said.

“And, I think we’ve seen that tonight with how brutal he is against the spinners. There are a couple of balls there which, if you actually look back at them, they’re pretty good balls from Punjab spinners. But, he’s so quick on pick-out length,” he said. 

For his part, Sanjay Bangar, Director of cricket development, Punjab Kings batting, said they had to win the PowerPlay against Sunrisers as they had been batting really well in this IPL. 

Bangar said they couldn’t really contain after getting the big wicket of Travis Head with the first ball of the innings. 

“I suspect that we could have bowled a little bit better, which would have meant that once the field spread out then we could have applied a little more pressure,” he said.