Table of Contents
In the eighth match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the Dinesh Karthik-led side thrashed SRH by 7 wickets.
It was the second loss for SRH in IPL 2020, and they are the only team who so far haven’t yet won any match in the competition. With a Net Run Rate (NRR) of -0.730, Sunrisers are placed right at the bottom in the points table.
On Saturday, SRH posted a below-par total of 142/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Manish Pandey with 51 off 38 balls was their highest scorer. In reply, the Knight Riders chased down the target with two overs to spare. The likes of Shubman Gill (70 not out) and Eoin Morgan (42 not out) took KKR to their first victory in the ongoing thirteenth season.
Throwing lights on what exactly happened, SRH skipper David Warner criticised the batting approach of his team’s players. He referred to the pair of Pandey and Wriddhiman Saha (30) who added a 62-run stand and played the majority of overs, but the acceleration seemed to be missing.
“We went four or five overs for 20 and coming back with three wickets in hand at the end probably killed us a little bit there. An extra 30 or 40 runs would have been great,” said Warner in the post-match presentation.
We mis-executed in the middle: Warner
The Orange Army have to change their mindset and try harder at the top to get back on the right track, feels Warner.
“We have to try and go harder at the top. Can’t help if the bowlers are bowling good lines and lengths. We need to push as hard as we can. You can see from our running between the wickets; we do do that.”
The SRH leader further said that the team needs to improve on their boundary percentage in order to find winning rhythm. He criticised the batters for playing too many dot balls and reckons that they ‘mis-executed’ in the middle.
“We got to improve our boundary percentage. I saw, I think 35 dot balls, which not acceptable in T20 cricket on a wicket that was actually nice to bat on. We just mis-executed in the middle,” added Warner.
SRH will next play against Delhi Capitals (DC) at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on September 29.
