IPL 2020: How Jason Holder's Arrival Turned The Tide For SRH, Guiding The Orange Squad Closer To Grand Finale

For the 13th season of the IPL, none of the franchises had shown interest in Jason Holder during the auctions and despite the base price of 7.5 lakhs, no one picked him due to which Holder did not reach UAE and was busy holidaying somewhere in his country at the time when IPL started.

Photo: PTI

In the IPL 2020, when many players who were bought in crores failed to perform, Windies star all-rounder Jason Holder suddenly changed the fortunes of Sunrisers Hyderabad by coming into the tournament. After seeing Holder's performance, now perhaps the other franchisees of the tournament would like to do a little more research to select the players from next time. Well we are talking about Jason Holder, the captain of the West Indies 'Test team' and the number one all-rounder in the Test rankings, who has made headlines in a short span with his performance in the 13th season of the Indian Premier League.

For the 13th season of the IPL, none of the franchises had shown interest in Jason Holder during the auctions and despite the base price of 7.5 lakhs, no one picked him due to which Holder did not reach UAE and was busy holidaying somewhere in his country at the time when IPL started. But the decision of Sunrisers Hyderabad to bring in Holder in their team, changed the fortunes of both the franchise and the West Indies all-rounder.

Hyderabad all-rounder Mitchell Marsh got injured after the tournament started in the UAE. At the same time, the team's star fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to be ruled out too due to an injury. Due to this, along with Hyderabad's bowling attack, the middle order in batting also started to look weak. In such a situation, the team was looking for a good all-rounder, for which they included Caribbean captain Jason Holder as a replacement for injured Mitchell Marsh. It was not easy for the Sunrisers to include Holder in the playing XI for most of the games as star all-rounder Mohammad Nabi was already in the team but was benched for most of the games.

In between the league, SRH's veteran batsman Kane Williamson was dropped out of the match against Rajasthan Royals after complaining of muscle strain during the match against Kolkata. By this time the Sunrisers' team had played nine matches and were extremely troubled by three consecutive defeats. But then the team management included Jason Holder in the playing XI and since then he has helped his team win four games in a row -- a total of five matches -- and now powered Hyderabad to the second qualifier on Friday. In the IPL 2020 Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Holder contributed significantly with his bowling as well as batting. While his presence has strengthened the team's bowling attack, his ability to score quick runs with some hard-hitting has strengthened the middle order in batting. Talking about his figures, Holder has taken 13 wickets at an average of 14 so far in only six matches. With this, he has twice won the match for SRH with his batting while chasing the target. Holder has scored 55 significant runs so far at an average of 55 and a strike rate of 144.

IPL 2020 Eliminator, SRH vs RCB: Jason Holder Stars In Sunrisers 6-Wicket Win Over Bangalore In A Do-Or-Die Clash

Chasing 132 for the win, Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6-wickets in the last-over thriller on Friday at the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi to hand over a knockout punch to the 'Red Army' and enter Qualifier 2. On Sunday, Hyderabad will now face Delhi Capitals and the team that wins that match will lock horns with defending champions Mumbai Indians in the Finals of IPL 2020.

Jason Holder starred with both bat and ball as after picking three wickets in the first innings, he played a crucial 20-ball 24 run knock to power his team to victory. Apart from him, veteran Kane Williamson too starred with the bat by scoring a 44-ball 50.