New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant conceded his side was literally doing catchup all through the match after Sunrisers Hyderabad made a huge ‘power play’ statement smashing 125 runs to create an IPL record here on Saturday.
SRH’s Travis Head (89, 32 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (46, 12 balls) took power play to a different level, erasing the previous record of 105/0 by KKR against RCB in 2017.
SRH went on to score 266/7 and then dismissed the home side for 199 in 19.1 overs for a 67-run win and go second on the table.
“I think power play was the difference. We were just catching up throughout the match. That was the massive difference. Hopefully, we will come back with more thought process and clear mindset,” said Pant, whose ‘homecoming’ was spoilt by Head and Sharma’s 131-run partnership.
The DC skipper also said he probably misjudged the dew factor at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and decided to bowl first after winning the toss.
“The only thought process behind that (deciding to bowl first) was we thought there would be some dew but it didn’t come. I thought if we could restrict them to 220-230, we would be in with a chance.” SRH bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar got just one wicket but his restrictive spell in the high-scoring match — 33 runs in 4 overs — played a vital role in the easy win.
“Feeling good. Not among the wickets but the way I want to execute it is happening. Just a matter of time,” said the pace-bowling stalwart.
“When defending those many runs, you either go for plenty or you get wickets. We accepted that we’ll go for plenty of runs when defending those many runs, but the plan was to keep executing,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar praised his fellow pacer T Natarajan’s bowling, who was twice on a hat-trick in a single over and ended up with superb figures of 4/19 in four overs “Amazing. We know how good he is at yorkers. He keeps working hard, silent guy, goes unnoticed a lot. We know how important he is for Sunrisers,” said Bhuvneshwar, adding that he is happy that SRH batting is finally clicking after several years.
“For so many years, this is the first time our batting is clicking so much. As a bowling unit, happy to take the back seat. They (batters) are ruining us… when we defend 180 or so, it’ll feel like less,” he said.
Bhuvneshwar added both Head and Abhishek bat in the same manner at nets.
“Yes, same, especially Head and Abhishek, playing the same way. Batters sometimes play opposite (manner) in the nets, but they play the same way.” The pacer indicated that bowlers don’t get their due despite all the hard work but, in the end, they win championships for teams.
“Bowling is something… somebody says batting wins your sponsorship, but bowling wins you championship. The way we are bowling right now looks bad on the scorecard but it is pretty good for us,” he said.
Player of the Match, Head said he was in good space following the match-winning knock.
“On a bit of a roll there. Enjoyable, boys are on a roll. When you’re in good form, just trying to keep it simple. Reacted to the ball.” He praised opening partner Abhishek for going all out against spinners.
“First time we saw spin in the powerplay last game, and seeing how aggressive he is against spin, we try to let him do his thing against spin. He did it today too,” said Head.
Source: PTI News
