NEWS
Follow UsSunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody said that the injuries to Washington Sundar and T Natarajan had badly affected their bowling performance against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
CSK battered SRH bowlers to put on 202/2 in 20 overs which they fell short by 13 runs despite a fighting fifty from Nicholas Pooran (64 not out off 33 balls) at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
Lead spinner Washington Sundar injured his bowling arm while fielding and didn't bowl a single ball. Moody revealed the extent of the injury.
"Its very unfortunate for him that he got a knock on the same hand where he split his webbing and had stitches. He healed completely but he re-injured the same area. Its doesn't need restitching, but it was in a situation where he couldn't bowl. It didn't really have an impact in the opening phase of the innings," Moody said at the post-match media interaction.
After bowling the fifth over, left-arm pacer Natarajan was off the field to receive treatment before returning to bowl the 16th over. Moody felt that the absence of their two frontline bowlers put Kane Williamson under pressure.
"When you lose one of your important bowlers, whether its spinner or not, is a massive blow for the side. At the time, we also had Natarajan off with an injury which was taking time. We had seven overs which haven't been bowled by frontline bowlers. It was very difficult for Kane to manage in the middle. We got a score that was probably 20-30 runs more than it should've been," the former Australian skipper said.
Moody said that the team will not be looking too much into the mistakes made by the bowling department in the absence of their main bowlers.
"I'm not gonna over analyze the bowling performance. We'll have a look at it. We will only look at things which are critical to how we play the game," Moody said.
Chasing 203, SRH began well with openers Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma adding 58 before Mukesh Choudhary removed Abhishek and Rahul Tripathi in consecutive balls. Aiden Markram and Williamson were the next to depart as SRH went down fighting.
"At halfway mark, we were confident that we could it. It was a good batting surface and the start was important. It was also important for one of the at the top needed to bat deep, but unfortunately we had Abhishek, Kane and Markram didn't get the 70 or so we would've liked," Moody said.
SRH pacer Umran Malik endured a torrid time against Ruturaj Gaikwad (99 off 57 balls) as the CSK opener scored 33 runs off his 13 balls. Moody felt that it was a good learning experience for Malik.
"It was a good innings by him (Gaikwad), no question about it. He is a high-quality player and we know that he wouldn't be sitting on the sidelines for a long time. He obviously had a plan against Umran. It was a good lesson for Umran, he is still young and learning," Moody said.
Speaking about his approach to playing Malik, Gaikwad said that the slow nature of the pitch aided him.
"There was no plan. The wicket was a bit slow and his pace was right here. I was trying to put pressure on him from the start and thankfully it ended on my said," the opener said.
You tend to get unlucky at times: Gaikwad
Despite six losses from nine matches so far, CSK's campaign is not yet over as they must win their remaining five matches to keep their hopes alive.
"We are not thinking too much ahead. We are going with one match at a time," Gaikwad said.
Speaking about his early-season struggles, Gaikwad felt that he was unlucky to get out against good deliveries.
"Its tough in Mumbai and Pune to bat during the powerplay against the moving ball where the wickets are two-paced. You tend to get out to some good balls and are unlucky at times. I trusted my batting and the support has always been there," he said.
Gaikwad alongside Devon Conway (85 not out off 55 balls) put up a mammoth partnership of 182 runs, which propelled CSK to 202/2 in 20 overs. The Pune batter said that the plan was for him to take charge until Conway settles down.
"Devon was playing his second game after a long time, so I decided to take charge before his nerves settle down," he said.
