Kane Williamson rues poor start in big chase
Chasing a huge target of 190 in the pressure game, they lost three wickets inside the powerplay. Kane Williamson played a 45-ball 67 to stage a comeback along with Abdul Samad (16-ball 33)
Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s campaign in the Indian Premier League came to an end in the Qualifier 2 after losing to first-time finalists Delhi Capitals by 17 runs on Sunday. However, considering the fact that they had missed the experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mitchell Marsh and an inexperienced middle-order, they have done extremely well at the back end and exceeded expectations by reaching Qualifier 2.
Chasing a huge target of 190 in the pressure game, they lost three wickets inside the powerplay. Kane Williamson played a 45-ball 67 to stage a comeback along with Abdul Samad (16-ball 33) but the New Zealander’s wicket ended SRH hopes.
Speaking after the match, Williamson said, “Going in the second innings, risks needed to be taken. We did not get off to a good start but we managed to build a few partnerships through the middle period. We still had a bit of opportunity. It’s a real shame not to make the finals but I think, particularly in the last three weeks, the guys can be proud of how they played.”
He said despite SRH not having a good start in the tournament, they managed to get the rhythm in the later part. “We had a number of close losses. Perhaps we were not playing our best, every team is very strong, everybody has beaten everybody, you need to be at the top of your game. As a team we were looking for that rhythm to our play, it took a bit of time. It was nice to find it at crunch time, we would loved to have gone through.”
Speaking about his knock, he said, “I was just trying to re-establish our partnership, take the game to a stage where we can then change the pressure. Abdul Samad came out and hit the ball beautifully, allowing us to get back in the game although there was quite a bit of work to do.”
Meanwhile, Man of the match Marcus Stoinis stamped his mark in the match both with the bat and ball. Having promoted as opener, he smashed 27-ball 38 to give a solid 86-run opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (87) and picked up three wickets, including that of Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey in one over to dent SRH chase. When asked about the move to open he said, “Ricky (Ponting) had spoken to me a couple of times about the possibilities of opening the batting. It just worked out and we thought this was the game to do it. In one of the games, I batted at No.3 and it didn’t come off as we were chasing 220.”
He also lauded Dhawan, who scored two centuries earlier and was in fine form for them. “Shikhar has been unbelievable and made some big hundreds. Even in the matches he has missed out, he has timed the ball well. He has really led the way for us this year. He (Dhawan) is a leader within the team. He brings in a lot of energy and shares a lot of knowledge. He has made 600-plus runs this year. Hopefully, he has one big knock in the final left in him” added the Australian all-rounder.
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