Sunrisers Hyderabad is off to an unimpressive start to the 13th season of the Indian Premier League. They caught defeat from the jaws of victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match. SRH was 121-2 in one stage, chasing a 165 goal. But they lost their last eight wickets in a heap to be released by just 152. And on Saturday, the Kolkata Knight Riders completely outscored SRH when they lost the match by seven windows.
Warner opted to hit first after winning the toss and the team posted a meager 142/4 total in its allotted twenty overs. The captain played a 36-run hit while Manish Pandey scored half a century. In response, KKR chased the total in 18 overs with Shubman Gill scoring 70 runs.
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Warner was unhappy with his team’s performance in the game and said playing too many point balls may have cost them the game.
“We need to push as hard as we can. You can see in our running between the gates, we do. But we have to improve our cap percentage. I think I saw 35-point balls, which is not acceptable in T20 cricket on a wicket where it was really nice to hit. We just run badly in the middle. “
Warner also backed his decision to hit first against KKR, saying his strength lies in death bowling.
“I think I was right in my decision. For us, our strength is death. I thought it was actually a difficult wicket to accelerate. The Kolkata boys showed us that if you can keep the wickets at the end, that’s what wins you the games. I don’t regret what I did at the beginning of the game and I stand by my decision, ”Warner told host broadcaster Star Sports in the post-match presentation.
Credit goes to the KKR bowling training for restricting Hyderabad to a low total. All bowlers played extremely and finished under the economy of 9. Pat Cummins was the most economical bowler for the KKR as he came back 1-19 in his four overs.
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“Patty Cummins, like him, (bowling) Test-match line and length. There was a bit of movement here and there. All in all, it got harder in the middle. We went four or five overs for 20 and coming back with three wickets in hand at the end probably killed us a bit there. 30 or 40 extra races would have been great, “added Warner.
Chasing 143, Gill led the team to their first victory of the tournament. He started the innings and was undefeated in 70 races. His punch was peppered with two sixes and five fours.
He was awarded Man of the Match for his spectacular performance. The 21-year-old was 92-run undefeated for the fourth wicket with Eoin Morgan, who racked up 42 * of 29 balls, including two sixes and three fours.
SRH will face Delhi Capitals at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, September 29.
(with ANI inputs)
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