Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], May 22 (ANI): Following his side’s loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) assistant coach Simon Helmot said that the team will move on quickly from this defeat and continue playing its aggressive brand of cricket.
Riding on a combination of Mitchell Starc’s red-hot scorching spell, Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer’s belligerent fifties, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 summit clash after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 8-wicket in a lopsided Qualifier 1 contest at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.
Speaking after the game, Simon said in the post-match press conference, “Today was not our day. They bowled very well upfront. This ground has shown that you can score well in the first innings and put pressure on the opposition.”
He also praised Starc for his scorching spell, saying, “He bowled well, and fast. He was moving the ball well. He is a quality player for a long-time and that is why he was such a sought-after name in the auction. They were a balanced side. But take nothing away from us. We are still going to play our brand of cricket. We are going to put this game aside very quickly since we are going to play in a couple of days in Chennai in the qualifier two. It just was not our night.”
Simon also praised Rahul Tripathi for his half-century and T Natrajan for his bowling.
“I thought Rahul Tripathi was great and took his chance with both hands. Natrajan was bowling well, but was unlucky today. We have had a lot of positive things over these 14 games, that give us confidence and we can draw upon them,” said the coach.
On the clash between Australian stars Starc and Travis Head, which saw the pacer remove the SRH opener for a duck, Simon said that it was a battle of “two heavyweights”.
“Travis Head likes to go quickly and be aggressive. Starc is an aggressive bowler. There is only one winner. We would like to see Head played his aggressive and positive cricket. He has been top of the bowlers this tournament,” he added.
Coming to the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad elected to bat first. After being reduced to 39/4 following an incredible powerplay spell by Mitchell Starc, a 62-run stand between Rahul Tripathi (55 in 35 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Heinrich Klaasen (32 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) helped SRH cross the 100-run mark. But wickets kept falling for Sunrisers as bowlers were able to maintain pressure on KKR. A late cameo from skipper Mitchell Starc (30 in 24 balls, with two fours and two sixes) took SRH to a respectable 159 in 19.3 overs.
Starc was the pick of the bowlers for KKR, with a spell of 3/34 in four overs, once again making an impact during the big stages. Varun Chakravarthy also picked up 2/26 in four overs. Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Vaibhav Arora got a wicket each.
In the run-chase of 160 runs, a 44-run partnership between openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (21 in 16 balls, with four boundaries) provided a fine platform to KKR. Attacking half-centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer (58* in 24 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Venkatesh Iyer (51* in 28 balls, with five fours and four sixes) made a mockery of SRH’s bowling and run-chase, winning the game by eight wickets with 38 balls to go. With this win, KKR has earned a direct spot in the final, while SRH has one more shot at the title clash and will play in Qualifier two against the winner of the eliminator match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) taking place on Wednesday.
Starc took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award. (ANI)
