IPL 2022: It was certainly a much-improved performance – Kane Williamson

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson admitted they performed much better against Lucknow Super Giants as compared to their opening match of the season against Rajasthan Royals after losing against the former by 12 runs at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Monday.

SRH decided to bowl first after winning the toss and LSG was able to post a competitive total of 169 runs on the board.

In fact, SRH had a great start as they reduced Lucknow Super Giants to 27-3 after the first five overs. Washington Sundar first dismissed Quinton de Kock as Kane Williamson took a fine catch before plumbing in-form Evin Lewis in front of the wickets. Subsequently, Romario Shepherd accounted for Manish Pandey.

However, Deepak Hooda and KL Rahul were able to add 87 runs for the fourth wicket to get their team out of the woods. On the other hand, the Orange Army was alive in the run-chase but Avesh Khan’s two-wicket over changed the momentum in LSG’s favor.

Khan first dismissed a well-settled Nicholas Pooran and then accounted for Abdul Samad in the same over. The right-arm fast bowler returned with impressive figures of 4-24, which is his best bowling spell in the IPL.

SRH would have been disappointed as they had the match in their grasp and should have been able to chase down 170 runs. However, they kept losing wickets at crucial junctions in the match.

Kane Williamson said in the post-match presentation, “If you look at the performance, was certainly much improved from our first outing. The start with the ball was outstanding. Were in a strong position .. if we could just break that next partnership. Credit to Hooda and Rahul. I suppose with the bat there were glimpses. It was close but not close enough. Looked like a good surface. 170 on any day is a challenge .. have to play well. But at the same time we knew if we could build partnerships, get off to a reasonable start, we have enough firepower. Didn’t quite work today. The guys with the roles they have with the ball were outstanding. It’s small margins. A few ones and a few twos and the chase takes quite a different shape.”

There is no doubt that SRH’s top order needs to fire at all cylinders for them to succeed in upcoming matches. Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran scored good knocks of 44 and 34 runs respectively but it was not enough to get their team over the line.

SRH will next face defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Saturday.