KKR vs SRH | 'We've been facing Umran Malik in the nets, he's special' – Kane Williamson lauds SRH's young speedster

10/03/2021

After suffering a six-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday in Dubai, losing captain Kane Williamson has stated that his team have been working hard, but it has not been paying off. He was quite impressed with young Umran Malik though, who he thinks is a special bowler.

Kane Williamson lauded Umran Malik after the match, and stated that the 21-year-old fast bowler is a special bowler. Malik, playing his first IPL game, clocked high speeds in his very first over against Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer, and breached 150kph on speed gun.

"We've been facing Malik in the nets - he's special, lots of pace. Young guy runs in and goes hard," Williamson said after the match.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first, but lost openers Wriddhiman Saha (0) and Jason Roy within the first four overs. Willliamson (26) looked promising, but Shakib Al Hasan's rocket throw was too good for the SRH captain.

Abdul Samad played scored an 18-ball 25, but that wasn't enough as SRH were limited to 115/8. Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Southee and Shivam Mavi picked two wickets each. Shakib, who played his first match in the second phase of IPL 2021, scalped one wicket and restricted the run flow along with Sunil Narine, who conceded just 11 runs from his four overs.

In reply, KKR lost their in-form batsmen Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi early, but Shubman Gill laid the foundation with a solid 57 to set up a six-wicket win.

After SRH's 10th defeat from 12 games in the season, Williamson stated that his team has been working hard, but haven't got the desired results. He further rued the lack of good partnerships with the bat.

"(On par score) Around 150. It was tough work bowling defending a low total. We've been working hard and it just hasn't been paying off. When we got to the last 3-4 overs with the bat, we wanted to have a crack and get 150. Hindsight is beautiful, honestly we wish we had some partnerships. That's part and parcel of the game - trying to identify what a competitive total will be," Williamson said.

Sunrisers Hyderabad will next play Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, October 6.