SRH’s head coach, Daniel Vettori opened up after his side was beaten by Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday (April 25) in Hyderabad. When these two teams had met earlier, SRH managed to break their own record for the highest total in the history of IPL but while chasing 207, they failed to do it.
“Obviously we were confident because of the scores we were able to put up,” Vettori said after the game. “We thought that 206 was a good score, there was a real confidence in the group because of past performances. We also know that it’s been set up by the openers and today they had an off day and that’s cricket and you have off days. We don’t expect them to perform 14 games and unfortunately we didn’t get the support in the middle stages. It’s a tough loss but we understand that every team in the IPL can beat every team, there are no easy games at all.”
While dismissing the views of one of the batters trying to play through the innings on a surface for the slower bowlers, Vettori shared the need to alter their approach in Chennai in their next game as well.
“The guys who came off all said that it was a surface that you could score on,” he added. “Anchor roles when you are chasing 207 is hard to do. Obviously need to be aggressive, 10 an over means you need two boundaries so for someone to settle in and play an anchor role is a little bit tricky but it’s certainly something we will look at. We have been successful setting totals and now we have to look at our way of chasing. We come up against a really good team in Chennai so I suppose for us is removing ourselves from this game and understanding that the Chepauk wicket could be different and we may have to go about it in a different manner. I still think on this ground, on these surfaces we have to take the game on.”
However, if the surfaces around the country start getting slower, Jaydev Unadkat could become a key player for the SRH bowling attack as well.
“I think when the surface suits him and to be fair to him he probably gets more bounce and has the ability to stop the ball on the wicket than most,” he said. “Because he almost bowls a top spinner with those slow ball bouncers, so he is really good when he has a set plan. Obviously we left him out in the last game because we thought the surface wasn’t quite conducive to him in Delhi but this ground (Hyderabad) he has had three very good performances for us,” Daniel Vettori shared.
Meanwhile, RCB’s captain Faf du Plessis expressed relief after they finally broke their losing streak. Ever since they won their first game on March 25, RCB have lost six matches on the trot before finally winning after a month.
“I think the last two games we have certainly showed great signs of fight,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “The SRH game was 270 (287) plus and we got close to 260 (262), great fight and the KKR game as well, one run, almost a record chasing score. We have been close for a while but you need to win matches to get the confidence back in the group. It’s a massive relief for all of us. No matter who you are, when you are not winning it affects you mentally, it affects your confidence so I will sleep a little bit easier tonight.”
He also emphasized the need to step up as a whole unit with the bat, rather than just depending on individuals. He also acknowledged Karn Sharma’s impact on the bowling attack as well.
“You see in the last game, there is some confidence in our batting, we have got more guys contributing now,” he observed. “Obviously, the first half of the tournament only Virat was contributing. Rajat playing two good innings back-to-back, Greeny getting runs tonight will be massive for him to get that load off his shoulders. It’s very important as a batting lineup to contribute together because we have seen the scores are so big so it’s not going to be just one guy that’s just gonna score the runs.”
“It’s a difficult ground to bowl at, let’s be honest,” du Plessis said on RCB’s home ground. “We have tried to find the recipe to bowl at that ground, it’s been tough for our boys to get a formula that works there. When you get to grounds like this that are a little bit bigger and there is a little bit of purchase in the wicket, Karn was amazing. A legspinner, even more so in today’s age of T20 cricket you got to have a legspinner in the team,” he concluded.
