IPL 2018: Billy Stanlake praises Sunrisers Hyderabad fielding effort

Australia pacer Billy Stanlake says that Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fielding effort against Kolakat Knight Riders in Indian Premier League match was the main reason for his team winning.

Catches win matches and also help the bowler to be adjudged Man of the Match. No wonder Billy Stanlake spoke of wanting to buy Manish Pandey some beer.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’ s Manish Pandey took a stunning catch to dismiss Nitish Rana of Kolkata Knight Riders of Billy Stanlake’s bowling in Indian Premier League match.(AFP)

Pandey’s gravity-defying effort to dismiss Nitish Rana was a crucial moment in Saturday’s IPL 11 game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Rana and Chris Lynn had stitched a 39-run partnership and it looked like KKR could get on top of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s formidable bowling. That’s when the rain came .

On resumption, Rana had cut Stanlake and on any other night, it would have scorched the Eden turf on way to the boundary. But Pandey had other ideas. Just as did when Andre Russell tried to slap one. Stanlake was generating a fair amount of bounce and getting the ball to deviate way from the left-hander. Said his job is to bowl quick and be aggressive on the wicket whose bounce Stanlake described as “tennis-bally.”

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“The wickets of Rana and (Andre) Russell were only thanks to two great catches. Think I should buy Manish some beers after this,” said Stanlake, while accepting his Man-of-the-Match award at Eden Gardens after the five-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

His skipper Kane Williamson didn’t talk of spirits but he too praised the fielding effort. “The real highlight was our fielding tonight. Bowlers have executed their skills really well, but we know every game is tough, so look to continue,” said Williamson after the team’s third successive win.

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“It is obviously nice to win three in a row but this surface needed some adapting. There wasn’t a lot of turn, and Kolkata are a strong team but it was nice to go over the line in this city,” said Williamson whose half-century helped Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first win in six attempts.

Dhawan aggression

Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan said he has decided to be aggressive this year. “I’m not gonna hold back. Things have been changing for more than year now. Just trying to enjoy the journey, and mistakes are part of the process. I’m a big believer in process so just want to keep everything going as it is,” he said.