Sharjah: SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain David Warner on Tuesday said that the team has done well to turn around its fortunes since falling to a 12-run defeat to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) while chasing a target of 128 last month.
SRH went on to dominate their remaining league matches and stormed into Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs on Tuesday with a 10-wicket win over top-ranked Mumbai Indians (MI).
It feels good now, after that dreadful loss against KXIP. They (MI) rested a few players but to hold them to 150 on this ground was great. A lot of credit goes to the bowlers. Nadeem was superb. We were trying to be as clinical with the bat then, and it feels good, said Warner, 34, at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem ended his four overs with figures of 2/19, helping restrict the strong MI batting lineup to 149/8 in 20 overs. Warner and his opening partner Wriddhiman Saha then chased down the total and SRH ended the match on 151 without loss in 17.1 overs.
If we can take this performance and momentum into the next game we’ll be really happy. I pride myself on getting my team to a great start. That is my duty, my job. Fortunately the last few games have been great and we have been able to go in a positive manner, said Warner.
On the defeat, MI skipper Rohit Sharma, said, ‘Not the day we want to remember, probably our worst performance of the season. We wanted to try a few things, it didn’t go our way. We knew dew was going to play a factor and we wanted to take the toss out of consideration, but we didn’t play good cricket today. I was happy to be back, it’s been a while. I’m looking forward to play few more games here, let’s see what happens. It (hamstring) is fine, absolutely. We play at Wankhede where there’s dew in the second innings. You have to back your skills, and believe that you can get people out. They played good shots in the powerplay, and that helped them. If you take wickets in the Powerplay, even if there is dew, it can put pressure on the opposition. It’s a very funny format. It’s always nice to forget was has happened, and focus on the present. They (Delhi) are a good side, so it will be a good challenge to face them. You want to leave this performance behind as quickly as possible. We’ll get back to the drawing board and figure things out.’