Hyderabad, April 26: They wanted to avoid mid-table congestion and move higher in the Points Table. But on Thursday night at their home turf, they lost badly to the team with minimum wins this season.
That was bit unlikely from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). They are being led by Pat Cummins, who led Australia to the ODI World Cup and World Test Championship titles last year.
The star of those title clashes Travis Head, happens to be a key member of SRH. They also hold the record of highest total in Indian Premier League 2024.
But on Thursday against Royal Challengers Begaluru (RCB), they justwere not at their best while chasing. That was rightly pointed out by their head coach Daniel Vettori.
After SRH suffered a loss against RCB, Vettori urged the players to focus not only on putting big runs on the board but successfully chasing targets as well.
RCB broke the SRH’s consecutive four-match winning streak after beating them by 35 runs at their home ground Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. Chose to bat first, RCB banked on Rajat Patidar’s 19-ball half-century and Virat Kohli’s 51 to post a total of 206 /7 in 20 overs.
Considering that SRH has scored two of the biggest totals this season, it was a chasable target for them but they failed to gain any momentum and slumped to their third defeat of the season.
Vettori dwelled on the learning from the loss and asked the team to shift focus on the upcoming match against Chennai Super Kings. Vettori felt the approach towards chase should be different but didn't want to change his side's aggressive game style.
"I think you know, we have been successful setting totals, and now we have to look at our way of chasing, and we come up against a really good team in Chennai. And so, I suppose for us removing ourselves from this game and understanding that the Chepauk wicket would be different, and we are going to have to go about it in a different manner. So, we've only got a couple of days to put that into place. But I still think on this ground, these surfaces, we're gonna have to be aggressive and take the game off," Vettori said in the post-match press conference.
Despite their third loss in eight games SRH are firmly placed on third position in the points table and will next face Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk on Sunday.
SRH are a formidable side and they have a champion leader in Pat Cummins. Hopefully, they would not only set huge totals on board, but would be better chasers next time. (With IANS support)
