Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori backed his batters after an embarrassing collapse against Gujarat Titans, where they failed to chase the 169-run target. The star-studded SRH line-up was bundled out for just 86 – their lowest score in IPL history. It was a forgettable night for SRH, where none of their batter stood up against a top-class GT pace attack. SRH didn’t let down their ultra-attacking approach, which led to their downfall in the chase.
Mohammed Siraj struck early to remove Travis Head cheaply, setting the tone for a dominant bowling display from Gujarat Titans. The damage continued in the powerplay as Kagiso Rabada ripped through the top order, sending back Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan in quick succession. Jason Holder then joined the attack, picking up a three-wicket haul to further dent the innings as Sunrisers Hyderabad never recovered from the early blows. Gujarat maintained complete control throughout the chase, wrapping up a comfortable and one-sided win with ease.
Vettori reflected on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s defeat, saying the target was within reach and backing his batting unit to bounce back despite a brief lapse in execution during the chase.
“169 we thought we had a chance but I don’t put any blame on the batting unit, they have been exceptional this year. Every team is the IPL are going to have small blips once in a while and our’s was tonight and I don’t see any reason why we can’t bounce back,” Vettori said in the press conference.
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“GT kept putting pressure on”
Following SRH’s collapse in the chase, Vettori expanded on the early damage in the powerplay, pointing to how the team’s momentum was disrupted right from the start after a couple of soft dismissals that left them playing catch-up for the rest of the innings.
“We always want to get off to a good start. That’s our M.O. through the powerplay. Today, even though they bowled exceptionally well, there were a couple of fortunate dismissals with the first two wickets. From there, it was tough to really regroup, and they just kept putting pressure on,” he added.
He praised his bowling unit but said GT pacers were completely brilliant.
“We don’t expect our bowling unit to be perfect. It is difficult bowling in the IPL in these conditions. To restrict them to 170 was a very good job,” he said.