IPL 2018 | Kane Williamson backs his bowlers after loss against CSK

Like most matches in this IPL, fans at Wankhede stadium, on Tuesday, watched an exciting nail-biting encounter in the first qualifier of Indian Premier League as Faf du Plessis’ ominous batting display guided Chennai Super Kings into the final with win over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 2 wickets. The right-handed opener remained unbeaten on 67 runs off 42 balls to guide his team to victory with five balls to spare.

Defending a modest 140 runs to win, the SRH bowlers looked threatening with the ball with regular scalps which resulted in reducing CSK to 62/6, but the South African captain held his nerve till the final over to help his team get past the finishing line. Speaking about the loss in the post-match press conference, SRH skipper Kane Williamson explained that though his bowling department was good enough during the match, but some other things didn’t go their way.

“I think the bowlers were outstanding today. A few balls here and there, in the death I think, when it's a low-scoring game, a couple of edges you know, it's such a fine line. It was just a shame. We always backed ourselves to close games out from that point, but saying that there's a number of other areas that we would like to touch on going into our next game,” he noted.

“Death bowling for us is a strength, but today CSK played well and showed their depth with the bat. Obviously, Shardul Thakur coming in and he can obviously hit the ball a bit as well and proved to be effective. So frustrating, but we're off to Kolkata and it's important we show some signs of improvement there.”

Siddharth Kaul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been outstanding performers for SRH in the final overs from last two editions of Indian Premier League. But from last 4 matches that SRH have lost, the bowling department looked off colour and failed to restrict the oppositions. This time around Kaul failed to stop the runs as he conceded 17 runs in the 19th over, which turned the match in CSK's favor.

“Siddarth in his over before executed beautifully so we wanted to keep that rhythm going. And, you know, a few near-misses and a little bit of fortune, a few edges and that's sort of the way it goes. But once again, in terms of our view and a number of areas that we want to touch upon because we would like to have got a few more runs on the board. In terms of choosing between those two, they are both very good operators," concluded the New-Zealand captain.