Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper David Warner was pleased with his side’s performance against the Delhi Capitals (DC) to notch up their first win of this season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Warner rued the fact that he and his opening partner Jonny Bairstow hit a lot of shots straight to the fielders in the powerplay and couldn’t find the gaps, but he was happy that they both stayed and didn't give wickets to DC in that period.
“At the end of the day, it’s about having a bit of luck. Another day we could have been two down for 30-odd but we knuckled down and played our way.”
Warner said that they were on par to get a score around 170-180 but also complimented the Delhi bowlers who bowled well in the powerplay and at the death. “All the talk about our middle-order not being good enough, not playing well, we put our game together tonight, backed ourselves, played fluently and got ourselves a positive total,” he added on what he thought about the score.
He said that at the halftime, we talked about bowling tight lines and taking early wickets. “If you had wickets at the end with the dew factor that was there, it could have been a different story. But, we held our nerve and we bowled very well.”
The 33-year-old Australian batsman also applauded the leg-spinner Rashid Khan for bowling tight lines and building a lot of pressure with dot balls and taking wickets. “He knew he had a big role to play with young Abhishek (Sharma) at the other end and we had (Abdul) Samad as well, who would have bowled but Sharma bowled well apart from getting hit at the back-end, otherwise it would have put a lot of pressure on Rash (Rashid), who held his nerve.”
On bringing the 18-year-old Abdul Samad in the line-up, Warner said that with the structure they played with on Tuesday (with Williamson coming in for Mohammad Nabi), they needed someone in the finisher’s role. “Being the powerful hitter that he is, allowed us to bring Samad in and he bowls some leg-spin as well. I have seen him hitting the long ball and was very impressed,” he added.
Asked about the decision to bring Kane Williamson in, Warner said that it was a big call but they knew that if they get their top 4 batting right, they back their bowlers to do the job.
Talking about the team culture and youngsters (especially Samad) adjusting to it, Warner said that the youngsters in the team are gelling very well. They are passionate, enthusiastic, eager to learn. He added that that’s how they want them to play, with freedom, let the senior guys do the hard part and do their job without any fear and keep picking the senior guys’ brains and do well.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)