Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a harrowing defeat against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday but head coach Trevor Bayliss has ruled out the notion that fast bowler T Natarajan's positive Covid-19 test impacted the match. Just a few hours before the match started, news broke out that Natarajan had tested positive and was isolated along with five other members from SRH camp.
SRH posted 134/9 in 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat, a target which DC chased down in the 18th over with eight wickets in hand.
Speaking at the virtual post-match press conference, Bayliss said that the positive Covid-test did not affect SRH's performance in the match.
"I don't think that would have affected the result of the match. They played way too well for us tonight. It was a little bit of an upset," he said.
"Natarajan was going to play, but these guys are professional players. Every now and then, there's an injury just before play and you have got to make a late replacement. So, I am sure all of the players are, in a way, used to that. But we hope Nattu (Natarajan) gets over it pretty quickly and we can move on," Bayliss added.
{{/usCountry}}"Natarajan was going to play, but these guys are professional players. Every now and then, there's an injury just before play and you have got to make a late replacement. So, I am sure all of the players are, in a way, used to that. But we hope Nattu (Natarajan) gets over it pretty quickly and we can move on," Bayliss added.
{{/usCountry}}"Give Delhi the credit. They bowled particularly well. They have got some world-class bowlers and upfront some world-class very fast bowlers, so they had a good day. We didn't have such a good day and that's the game of cricket.
“Their bowlers upfront bowled exceedingly well. A lot of pace and used the wicket well with cutters, with the ball just holding in the wicket little bit and jumping up a little-bit, those tall fast bowlers took full advantage of it,” he signed off.