IPL 2020 | SRH played an unacceptable amount of dot balls in the middle, laments David Warner
Warner was critical of his side's approach
|@ IPL T20
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner lamented his side’s inability to accelerate in the middle and termed the number of dot balls they played in the middle overs ‘unacceptable’. After Warner laid a mini-platform, SRH dug their own grave via an extremely slow Pandey-Saha partnership.
Familiar flaws came back to haunt Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi on Saturday as after David Warner and Jonny Bairstow failed to cash in on a flat-wicket, an underwhelming display for their Indian middle-order gave Kolkata Knight Riders the edge. With SRH 59/2 in the 10th over on a good batting wicket, they needed their middle-order to show intent and kick on, but an-almost run-a-ball partnership from Manish Pandey (51 off 38) and Wriddhiman Saha (30 off 31) meant that 142 was all they managed after winning the toss and batting first.
Speaking post-match, skipper David Warner lamented the slow phase in the middle and asserted that the number of dot balls his side played was ‘unacceptable’.
“I saw 35-40 dot balls, which is unacceptable. I think in the middle we went four or five overs with 20. Probably killed us a little there. An extra 30-40 runs would have been great. We're going to have to try and go a little harder at the top. Can't help it if the bowlers are bowling good lines and lengths. Got to lift our boundary lengths,” Warner said post-match.
Warner, on Saturday, became the first batsman to win the toss and bat first, but with KKR chasing down the target in under 19 overs, the decision came under scrutiny. When quizzed on the decision, the Australian claimed that he made the right call, but admitted that a wondrous spell from Pat Cummins set them back in their pursuit of a big total.
“I got my decision right, I think. For us, the strength is death bowling. I think it was a hard wicket to accelerate on. I don't regret what I did at the beginning of the game, stand by my decision. Cummins as he does, test match line and length. If you present a good seam, you get value out of the wicket.”
With 2 defeats in 2 games, Warner’s SRH sit bottom of the IPL 2020 standings.
