SRH defeated Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 of the ongoing season and became the second team to reach the final of the season. For SRH, spinners Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed turned the match around at the last moment which played an important role in Hyderabad’s victory.

Now former Australian cricketer and head coach Tom Moody is surprised why Rajasthan Royals (RR) did not send left-handed batsman Shimron Hetmyer against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) left-arm spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma. He believes that Hetmyer should have batted at number five after Riyan Parag, because he could have stopped the havoc of these two spinners and the result of the match would have been different.

Moody revealed how SRH’s spin bowling was one of the weak links

Moody believed that spinners had no role in SRH’s bowling, but Rajasthan gave that weak link a chance to dominate.

Tom Moody while talking to ESPNCricinfo said-

“It was completely understandable that Hetmyer should have batted ahead of Dhruv Jurel. Jurel batted well, but even if he had batted after Hetmyer, he would have batted well. Rajasthan just had to target those 2 left-arm bowlers, which Hetmyer could do well being a left-handed batsman. SRH had nothing in the name of spinner, yet Rajasthan made such a big blunder.”

At the same time, former New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan believes that if RR had sent a left-handed batsman instead of a right-handed batsman after Shahbaz Ahmed started his spell, then perhaps Cummins would not have given the ball to Abhishek Sharma for the next over and the threat of Abhishek would have been averted from the team.