IPL 2021: We didn’t execute our plans with the ball – David Warner

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner feels his bowlers didn’t execute the plans in their first match of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai as they lost by 10 runs on Sunday.

Warner won the crucial toss but the SRH bowlers failed to hit the right line and length.

The Orange Army fast bowlers disappointed with their performance as they couldn’t build any pressure. In fact, the team’s pack leader Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had made a perfect comeback in the limited-overs against England, had an off-day at work as he conceded 45 runs in four overs and scalped a solitary wicket.

Sandeep Sharma conceded 35 runs in his three overs whereas T Natarajan leaked 37 runs in his four-overs spell. Rashid Khan, as is mostly the case, was the pick of the SRH bowlers as he snared two wickets and gave away only 24 runs in his four overs quota.

David Warner noted that their bowlers veered off the track on the first ball of the over and thus pressure was not applied by the bowlers.

David Warner said at the post-match presentation, “I didn’t think there were that many runs on this wicket. They adapted really well, had a good partnership. We failed to execute the first ball of most overs and then conceded a lot at the end. We lost early wickets, and Jonny and Manish got us in a good position, so we had our chances. The dew made a difference. If the bowlers overpitched, it was easy to hit it, and with the height in their team, and with the cross-seam, it stopped a little bit on us. We would like to have won the first game, but we have four more games at this venue and hopefully, we will get used to the square and the dimensions of this ground”.

In fact, SRH bowlers conceded 145 runs in the first 15 overs. However, they made a good comeback as they gave away 42 runs in the last five overs. But still, KKR was able to get to a par score of 187 runs, courtesy of fine fifties from Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi and finishing touches from Dinesh Karthik.

The bowling battery is SRH’s strength and they will aim to make a solid comeback in the coming matches. SRH will play their next match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same venue of MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 14th April.