Daniel Vettori, the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad, credits the team’s explosive top-order and disciplined bowling attack for their outstanding season, but he also believes the team will keep an eye on its unproven middle-order ahead of the IPL playoffs.
In Hyderabad on Friday, SRH defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by a commanding 55 runs to secure third place in the standings and earn a spot in the playoffs.
“We played really well. You can’t have everything. It was a magnificent game; I thought the guys were incredible. Season’s not over yet. Top of the table, missed out a little bit on run-rate, but nine wins is a fantastic tournament,” PTI quoted Vettori as saying during the post-match press conference.
On Wednesday, the former champions will compete in the Eliminator.
“We’ve got a middle order that probably hasn’t batted that much during the season; so that’s something that we always keep an eye on in the build-up towards these big matches. But the team’s been amazing. That top four have been brilliant, and that triumvirate of Ishan (Kishan), Pat (Cummins)and Shakib (Hussain) in the latter half of the season has probably been the real difference for us,” he continued.
One of the team’s greatest tactical challenges, according to Vettori, is still controlling the fifth and sixth bowling options.
“It’s always about juggling our fifth and sixth bowler. That’s a big one for us and we went with Harshal Patel tonight because of the nature of the surface, but we know we’ve got (Praful) Hinge and Harsh Dubey.”
After SRH bounced back from a dismal start to the season, he commended the bowling attack for enhancing the potent batting lineup.
“Those three fast bowlers have been exceptional and we’ve had contributions from Harsh Dubey, from Shivang (Kumar), from Nitesh (Reddy), from Hinge that have allowed us to come back from losing three of our first four games,” he said.
“To win eight out of the next 12 is a real credit to them. I think we anticipated our batting unit doing what they did and then for the bowlers to complement them was the reason we’re in the position we are now.”
While acknowledging that Sunrisers Hyderabad’s onslaught of slower deliveries and careless fielding proved costly, RCB head coach Andy Flower expressed happiness that his team finished at the top of the points table despite the defeat.
After choosing to bat first, SRH amassed a formidable 255 for 4 and held RCB to 200 for 4 in 20 overs.
“It is great that we topped the table and we played some really good cricket over the length of the tournament to do that. This league is an outstanding league with 10 very good teams, so we’ve got a lot of confidence going into the playoffs,” Flower said.
The former captain of Zimbabwe attributed it to SRH’s astute deployment of slower balls.
“I thought their seamers bowled almost 50 per cent slower balls which, as the pitch got slower, were gripping and didn’t make batting that easy. They’ve changed their bowling attack pretty much. Pat Cummins has also come in and taken over. They know these conditions very well. They’ve picked a bowling attack that can exploit these conditions here. They’ve got a history of doing that,” he said.
The RCB coach acknowledged that the team’s fielding performance had significantly declined.
“We weren’t very sharp in the field. It looked a little different not having Tim David on the field and Jacob Bethell. They make a difference, particularly in the powerplay when they’re patrolling the boundary on either side. So we’ll have to have a think about that.”
Flower praised Venkatesh Iyer in particular, saying, “We were happy with Venky opening the batting. He’s had to wait for his chance.
“And every time he’s had a chance, either as an impact player when we’ve needed the extra batsman because we’ve got ourselves into some trouble in the innings, or in the last two matches when he’s been given a chance, first at number four in Dharamsala and then today opening the batting, he’s taken all of those chances.”
Flower claimed that despite having few opportunities, Iyer’s professionalism won the group’s respect.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for a man that’s played a lot of IPL cricket, played for India, and was sitting on the sidelines waiting for his chance. He’s been in that dugout with a big smile on his face all the time. He’s practiced hard every single session. He’s worked hard at his bowling, fielding and batting. He’s been exemplary.”
In retrospect, Flower stated that the crew had many target scenarios in mind throughout the hunt.
“We were in a position to keep pushing to chase down 255 but ultimately we got the job done and topped the league. It’s quite a tricky situation when you’ve got conflicting things. We discussed the various targets. I think we needed 166 to confirm top two, 179 to confirm top of the league and obviously 255 to win the game.”
