Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori said that a top-order collapse, along with a wrong “assessment” of the pitch, cost them a crushing defeat to Mumbai Indians. The big-hitting SRH top order reduced to 24/4 in the powerplay, and despite a steady partnership between Heinrich Klaasen (71) and impact substitute Abhinav Manohar (43), they could only manage 143/8 as well.

“The toss was important — we wanted to bowl first. The wicket was different from what we’d seen before, and while we had discussed the possibility of a 250-280 surface, the conditions changed dramatically. It was tough to assess the par score early on,” he said at the post-match press conference. “Once we got through two overs, the assessment was that it was not the 250-260 wicket that this has been the last couple of games. And we obviously went out of depth.”

“We wanted to maximise the powerplay, but unfortunately we kept losing wickets and once we realised that the surface wasn’t what we anticipated, then we needed to build towards that sort of 180 score, and that unfortunately became difficult to do when you’re 24/4 after the power play,” he added.

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Vettori also said that Ishan Kishan’s bizarre dismissal only added pressure to the team as well. Batting at No. 3, Ishan Kishan surprised everyone by walking off, indicating a faint edge, even as no MI players appealed for that and the on-field umpire was confused too as well.

“Ishan’s dismissal was obviously disappointing, and that put pressure on everyone coming in. When you’re in a power play situation, you still want to try and maximise those two fielders out.” Vettori said. “Travis and AB, when they go, they’re very aggressive and they take the game on and it’s led to a lot of success for us. And when they don’t succeed, then it’s the responsibility of the other batsmen.”

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“Potentially that’s what we haven’t had this season around. The ability for partnerships, for one or two guys to step up. The IPL has seen many teams claw their way back from poor starts. RCB’s comeback last year is something we can certainly look to for motivation. Even Mumbai have bounced back from tough spots before. But it starts with one big performance. Barring the two wins we have, we haven’t really put together a complete show. Improvement is needed across all three departments,” Daniel Vettori concluded.