The youngsters showed what they can do: David Warner

Having lost SRH’s famed top-order consisting David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson for 69/4 in 11 overs, young guns Priyam Garg (51 not out of 26)

Hyderabad: On the eve of the Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman said there has been too much talk about the middle order but they had a lot of confidence in the youngsters. On Friday, these youngsters rose to the occasion as they played a big role in SRH’s second successive win in the IPL match.

Having lost SRH’s famed top-order consisting David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson for 69/4 in 11 overs, young guns Priyam Garg (51 not out of 26) and Abhishek Sharma (31 off 24) proved their calibre with a solid 77-run partnership for the fifth wicket to propel their team to 164/5 and pave way for a seven-run victory over CSK.

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Captain Warner heaped praises on the youngsters saying that they always knew their abilities. “After losing early wickets, those guys came and play the way they did, I couldn’t be prouder. I have said many times in the past that we believe in their abilities. We told them to play the way they want to play and play with freedom and take out the scorecard out of the equation. Tonight it was fantastic efforts by two youngsters. They got us to a great total. They held their nerves and backed their abilities. I am very proud of their performances,” he said after the victory.

He also said that they made use of the opportunity in this match. “I think if you give youngsters almost 11 overs, they will get their time in the middle. The hardest part is when you get only three overs and it is difficult to get the momentum and hit boundaries straight away. Today they got some time and showed what they can do. Now we know what they are capable of,” added the captain.

He lauded left-arm pacer T Natarajan who executed the yorkers well in the game. “We have seen him execute the yorkers well in the warm-up games as well. We were looking for a death bowler and he fits into that role perfectly.” He said he was yet to see how bad Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s cramp was. Bhuvi bowled just one delivery in the 19^th over before pulling off and walked off the field.

Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming conceded that their batters are surely under pressure to perform. “The top-order is a concern for sure. You don’t want to put them under pressure but players are still looking to find form. Faf (du Plessis) is in good form and Rayudu is coming from an injury break. We do need contributions from the top order but we still are backing them.” He said they were confident of good form from Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav. “This is just the fourth game and there is surely pressure on them. He conceded that they were a bit patchy in the field after the 15^th over and could have done much better to restrict SRH for a low total. Fleming felt the middle-overs could have been a bit more productive for their victory. “We did come close to the target but we could have scored a bit more in the middle. But to deal with overs from Rashid Khan was a big challenge,” he concluded.

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