Follow UsSunrisers Hyderabad suffered their ninth defeat in 13 league matches after a thumping eight-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday, May 19.
After being put into bat first, the home team managed to score 186 for five in the first innings, with Heinrich Klaasen smashing his maiden IPL hundred.
However, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis stitched a 172-run stand for the opening wicket that powered the team over the line without any fuss. In the post-match press conference, Brian Lara and Simon Helmot, the assistant coach of the side, shared their views on the game.
"It was a good even pitch, it spun and was on the slower side. There was some purchase as the game went on. In the two games, one against Rajasthan and one today, I felt that our boys played really well. They took the game deep against a team that played slightly better than us on that particular day," Lara said.
"I am not overly disappointed with these kinds of performances, and I feel something like that early in the season would have helped. We came up against Virat Kohli at his best and Faf du Plessis, who has done a tremendous job for RCB throughout the season. To lose in the 20th over was a good effort from the boys," he further added.
The Winides batter also shared insights on the performance of the team this season and believed it is a learning curve for the side. "This is my first year as the Head Coach, and I am just getting a feel of how things operate. It has been a wonderful experience thus far. I felt that we started the tournament slowly and lost the first two games."
"When you lose the first two games, you have to try and catch up. I felt that we needed a bit more preparation. We have a very young squad, and not many players were coming off international duties, especially the Indian players."
We had to work a bit, and with more experience, you will see better performances. It has been a truly tough year for everybody, the players and the coaches, and we have to take it as a learning experience," he further added.
The two coaches also heaped praises on Klaasen for his sublime innings and his overall performance this season and said, "We felt we were in a strong position and did really well at the halfway stage. Klaasen's innings was a class act and he has been a mainstay for us throughout the season as a leader and with the gloves."
"The game went till the last over, which shows that we had enough runs in the bank, but tonight was an unbelievable game of T20 cricket. It is a game of small margins, and if we go back to a couple of games earlier in the season, and we twist around and win, we would be in a different position right now."
"Our bowlers over the season have been terrific, and lot of positives in our dressing room. We are bitterly disappointed, but we go to Mumbai with some confidence and try and be winners," Helmot added.
While there have been question marks surrounding the exclusion of Umran Malik from the playing XI, Lara stated that he is still raw and a work in progress.
"At this stage of the tournament, we want to see different players, someone like Nitish Reddy. We still have to make provisions and ensure we have a really competitive team."
"We have tried a lot, and that was not the intention because you want a stable team, but because of the situation, we have to keep trying different players."
"We have Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan for this game, and Umran is always in the conversation. He is obviously learning the trade, and he made a fast ride to international cricket from being the net bowler three years ago. We have Dale Steyn working with him, and he is still a very young and raw player. We are going to see the best of him in the coming years," Lara added.
The southpaw also believes that Sunrisers Hyderabad would ensure the Indian domestic players are paid a lot more attention during the off-season, and they build up for a much-improved performance in the coming years.
"At 22, I was lucky to be around some of the great players in West Indies cricket, and I will definitely be recommending that the Indian players who come 10 days before the tournament after Ranji Trophy or domestic cricket be paid a lot more attention during the off-season," Lara concluded.
The Orange Army will face Mumbai Indians in an afternoon encounter on May 21 at the Wankhede Stadium.