‘s bowling was in tatters after the game against the Punjab Kings, unable to pose any threat while defending 220 runs. The franchise decided to make some difficult changes by dropping the veterans Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel and putting faith in the young pace duo of Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain in the hope of a turnaround.
Since they picked the duo, ’s season has turned with three wins in a row. The batting was always expected to be dominant, but the bowling is complementing them, and on Tuesday, it was Eshan Malinga’s turn to deliver the goods as he put in a Player of the Match performance with a spell of 4/32 that derailed the ’ innings in the chase.
While Malinga was the star of the show, his pace bowling partner Sakibul Hussain had another fine outing, claiming 1/29 in four overs in a chase of 243 runs.
Each time Ishan Kishan wanted to break a growing partnership, he turned to Malinga or Hussain, and the bowlers answered the captain’s call. Aaron heaped praise on Hussain’s slower ball, admitting the delivery could become more important as the season moves on.
“And with Sakib, that slow ball is just brilliant. He’s almost getting as much turn as an off-spinner on the slow ball. Same arm speed, executes his yorkers, can bowl 140 plus as well. So with the way the game is headed and with the way IPL is going, you have to have that pace variance where you can go from 140, 145 down to almost 107,” Aaron added.
Aaron also revealed the work that the franchise has been doing with Hussain since buying him in at the auction for 30 lakhs: “He didn’t have access to long-term coaching. And he’s put in a lot of work over the last couple of months. Right from when the World Cup (2026 T20 World Cup) started, we’ve had camps for him specifically. He’s flown down to Bombay for five days. Then we called him to . There has been a lot of work which has gone on behind the scenes immediately after the auction. And he’s responded really well. And he has that will, he has that hunger. That’s the most important thing.”
Aaron said that reverse swing was one of Malinga’s strengths and that, coupled with a yorker-bowling ability, made him a handful against opposition sides.
“They’ve got skills that set them apart from any other bowler. If we talk about Malinga, he gets the ball to reverse. We saw reverse from the 11th to the 12th over today. Which gets tough for the opponent because with the white ball, you really can’t see where the shiny side is. And then he can execute his yorkers, has a brilliant slow ball and can bowl 140 plus,” Aaron said in the post-match presentation.
“Praful Hinge had a brilliant game, the one before and even the previous one. It’s just that with the game’s headed, you’re going to play horses for courses when it comes to even bowlers. Because we always talk about batsmen. Some batsmen play better on slow tracks, some on fast tracks,” Aaron added.
“But when we’re talking about bowlers, I think it’s important, even if somebody is doing really well, to be proactive and make a change. Looking at the surface, knowing the surface you’re going to play on, knowing the opponents you’re going to play against,” Aaron said about the selection strategy for picking bowlers.
Pat Cummins is set to be available for the game against the on April 25 in Jaipur. With Dilshan Madhushanka making his debut for SRH on Tuesday and having a decent game, and Malinga performing well when asked about where Cummins will fit in, Aaron responded by saying: “Pat is world-class, one of the top bowlers in the world. So he would walk into any team, irrespective of whether somebody was doing well or not doing well.”
