Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori says their fourth loss in a row in the IPL was down to the sub par showing in all three departments of the game and that will have to change if they are to arrest the slide. SRH, who made the final last year with an uber-aggressive style of play, have not been able to carry their belligerent run into this season. Their top three — Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan — have failed to find consistency thus far.
“I think everyone in the room understands that and it hasn’t really been close in the last four games.
“But obviously the challenge for us is moving forward because every IPL team at some stage goes through a run of losses and now we have a five-day break before we play Punjab who’s been exceptional so far in the tournament. We need to get ourselves up for that game,” said Vettori after the loss to Gujarat Titans on Sunday night.
However, it is not in his and skipper Pat Cummins’ nature to press the panic button.
“It’s probably slow. This is glacial, maybe, in terms of starts. I don’t think Pat’s ever panicked in his life and I think I’m pretty similar. But we understand the ramifications of losing four in a row and how difficult it makes the season. And it’s tough because obviously you come into the season with high expectations after last year and then a very good start.” Vettori had no qualms in admitting that his team has been far below its best.
“We just haven’t been near our best in any of the last four games. And I think that’s all three disciplines. I think the barometer of most teams is how their fielding is going and we’ve been pretty poor in the field. So those will be the work-ons between now and the Punjab game,” said the former New Zealand spinner.
SRH reaped rich rewards for their fearless display at the top of the order but on slower pitches, it has not worked for the team so far in the competition.
“So I think we know the style that’s going to work, but we have to respect conditions and we have to assess really well. And that’s probably something we haven’t done as well. And also have to respect how well other teams are bowling, putting a lot of planning into our top three,” added Vettori.
Bowling late in the powerplay helping me do my job better
Titans’ pacer Prasidh Krishna has been impressive in the middle overs and was one of the star performers on Sunday night alongside Mohammed Siraj.
“So, that is helping me do my job better (bowling late in the powerplay).” On Siraj, he added: “We’ve had great sessions together. All the work that he’s (Siraj) put in from January or February that he’s been working on. Everything is going well.
“I think if you look at the wins that we’ve had, they came with a lot of understanding of what the wicket is behaving like and adjusting our game plans accordingly.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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