Sunrisers Hyderabad, who seemed unbeatable, were surprised by a loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore, who were at the bottom of the table, in their home match on Thursday. They couldn’t chase the 207-run target set by RCB after being asked to field first. It was their first loss in four games. SRH, led by Pat Cummins, had been doing really well, defeating opponents in each game.
After the match, head coach Daniel Vettori expressed disappointment over SRH’s inability to take wickets, especially in the lower order, which contributed to their defeat. He said,”Obviously a disappointing one from where we’ve come from in the last four games to play some really good cricket. And even though we lost you could see that if we had some wickets at the back end, we could have still chased it down.”
Following Travis Head’s early dismissal, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, and Aiden Markram couldn’t make an impact, leaving Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with no runs on the board. The lower-order batsmen were then tasked with salvaging the innings. However, they struggled to form partnerships or score consistently. This failure to capitalize on opportunities put SRH in a difficult position, with the required run rate escalating.
Preserving wickets became crucial, as losing them further weakened SRH’s chances of chasing down Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) target. If any SRH batter had managed to stay at the crease, it could have potentially turned the tide of the chase. Yet, the lack of significant partnerships and the regular loss of wickets dashed SRH’s hopes. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t overcome RCB’s bowling attack.
Coach Daniel Vettori expressed disappointment in the post-match conference, highlighting the lower-order’s inability to contribute effectively and preserve wickets as key factors in SRH’s defeat. He continues,”Shahbaz (Ahmed) showed you were able to score, Patty (Cummins) showed it was able to score so just those early wickets really broke everything for RCB who bowled exceptionally well.”
