We peaked at the right time attack, says Jason Holder

The Eliminator was a close contest with Sunrisers in trouble after a point in chase of 132-run target. However, Kane Williamson (50 not out) and Jason Holder (24 not out) held their nerves to steer their side home with two balls remaining.

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad extended their winning streak to a fourth straight match as they eliminated Royal Challengers Bangalore with a six-wicket win to enter Qualifier 2 against Delhi Capitals on Sunday to get a shot at the title.

The Eliminator was a close contest with Sunrisers in trouble after a point in chase of 132-run target. However, Kane Williamson (50 not out) and Jason Holder (24 not out) held their nerves to steer their side home with two balls remaining. But it was their bowlers who did a tremendous job by restricting a RCB to a modest total. Holder picked up three wickets while T Natarajan scalped two. Ever-reliable Rashid Khan and Sandeep Sharma were economical as usual to put RCB batters under pressure.

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Speaking after the victory, Holder felt that their bowling unit has a good variety and the balance that helped them to achieve success. “I think we peaked at the right time in the tournament. The dynamic of our bowling attack is we got skills, Sandeep got good swing, I got bounce and pace, move the ball a bit too. Natarajan comes in with variations and he is consistent too. I think it is a really good balanced attack. We have a world class spinner in Rashid and with Nadeem settling in nicely, we have a good all-round attack. Nadeem has done a fine job, though his figures today do not suggest that,” said the Caribbean star.

The lanky pacer had a string of injuries that hampered his game in international cricket and he revealed he had put in extra yards to back to his best. “I have had a few injuries in the last few years and hampered my preparation. I had a bad shoulder and a surgery on my elbows as well. So I had to work harder and fine-tune my skills and get that mental confidence going into games. I am in a really good place right now,” he added.

Speaking about their Qualifier 2 on Sunday against Delhi, he said, “We don’t play names and we see what the conditions represent. What we do is being aggressive upfront with David leading the charge with Saha and Manish Pandey comes in and keeps the momentum and we have calm in the middle with Kane. Abdul Samad didn’t have a major contribution but when he does he strikes the ball a long way,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, RCB coach Simon Katich said they ran out of steam after starting the season well. “We felt we were on track till the 10-game mark. Looking back, we think we ran out of a bit of steam probably with the bat and that’s one area that faded a bit. But credit to Sunrisers, they squeezed us beautifully and then we were always playing catch-up. We felt if we could get 150, we could be in the game,” he added.

However, he saw a few positives from this year’s campaign in Devdutt Padikkal and pacers Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj along with Washington Sundar doing well. “A great sign for the future is Devdutt Padikkal. He was magnificent at the top of the order. It is a tough job for a young man in his first season. He played some great knocks to set us up. With the ball, Washington Sundar did a great job for us. Siraj showed some good signs with the new ball at the back-end. Hopefully, they will all get better during the next season.”