Sitting at the top of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 points table, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coach Tom Moody knows his team is in pole position to qualify for the playoffs. But on the eve of Saturday’s match against Delhi Daredevils, the Australian said the team’s focus was more on fixing the chinks in SRH’s armour.
The inconsistency of some top SRH batsmen is an issue, but Moody defended them. Skipper Kane Williamson (322 runs, 8 games) has been waging a lone battle, but Moody had something else to add to the story.
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“We are not going on a witch hunt against our batsmen. They have been playing on challenging wickets. Had the batsmen failed on flat wickets, then maybe I would think our guys are not performing. We have not got surfaces where it’s absolute run feast, where batsmen are hitting sixes for fun. Lots of people don’t take that into consideration,” he said at a press conference here.
“A guy like Manish Pandey, who has the tough job of playing in the middle overs, has scored two half-centuries. It’s better than most other middle-order batsmen. We have mostly played on surfaces which produce 130-150 runs. So, I don’t blame the batsmen.”
{{/usCountry}}“A guy like Manish Pandey, who has the tough job of playing in the middle overs, has scored two half-centuries. It’s better than most other middle-order batsmen. We have mostly played on surfaces which produce 130-150 runs. So, I don’t blame the batsmen.”
{{/usCountry}}On Shikhar Dhawan’s subdued form -- he has scored 152 in seven games -- Moody said: “He started the tournament well but then got a nasty knock on the elbow (vs Kings XI Punjab). He also missed a match (vs Chennai Super Kings). He lost a little bit of momentum there. He is a world class player and such persons won’t be missing for long. He is doing what he needs to regain form.”
No clarity on Bhuvi
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, SRH’s seniormost bowler, missed the last three matches due to a back problem, and there is still no clarity over whether he will play against DD.
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“Things are looking very positive regarding Bhuvneshwar. However, we are not yet sure whether he will be available for the DD match or not. Today he bowled at full flow. We just want to see how he responds tomorrow morning. We have got back-to-back games here. We want to make sure he is going to be absolutely fine. We have the luxury of several good bowling options.”
Regarding the pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, Moody said: “We are not sure what kind of wicket we will get. But I am hoping it’s good (for) batting with a 160-plus score.”