SRH definitely need improvement in their batting: Lara

From the first over of the innings, it was given that the surface in Lucknow was going to be slow and tricky, and will die out on the pitch before reaching the wicketkeeper. So, it was always going to be crucial for the team batting first to make a fair assessment after looking at the conditions in play. 

For the longest part of the first half, Sunrisers Hyderabad were in the game, with how Anmolpreet Singh was going. But three wickets in the span of seven deliveries, where they even lost their skipper Aiden Markram for a golden duck derailed their innings and thus prevented them from reaching a total of 150-160, which could have been a match-winning score. 

SRH’s head coach Brian Lara called for definite improvement in the franchise’s batting and said that they have to be more conscious about the fact of not losing wickets in clumps, something that they were guilty of even in their first outing against Rajasthan Royals. 

“I think today we didn’t play on a surface that was conducive to strokeplay. Not using that as an excuse, we definitely have to improve in our batting, we are losing a lot of wickets in clumps. The first game we lost two wickets in the first over, today we lost three wickets in seven balls, that’s something that we need to work on. We need to look at our batting, and come up with a solution,” Lara minced no words in the post-match press conference. 

Lara also insisted that a total of 150-160 would have been ideal, and the game would have been a different story. But he also reckoned that Lucknow bowled and batted better than them on the night. 

“The pitch today was always going to be a turner, we got the better part of the pitch. It was always going to deteriorate, and say if we got to 150-160, it would have been a different story. As we lost three wickets in seven balls, it stopped our progress.”

“Pitch was not conducive to strokeplay for both teams but they bowled and batted better. We have to take responsibility as a team, and try to pick ourselves up ahead of the next game. 

SRH had a very different strategy from what Lucknow had deployed, with an additional pacer in the setup. Lara reckoned that with Washington Sundar and Adil Rashid in the lineup, and the added bowling from Aiden Markram, there wasn’t a need to have more spin options. 

“We had Washington and Adil Rashid, two recognised spinners, Markram had bowled well in the recent past, in SA20. Fast bowlers have the ability to work the ball on pitches such as that, we wanted to ensure that we had a balanced bowling unit.