After winning the eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner said that he would always prefer to bat first on the Kotla pitch and then put pressure on the chasing side.
“Before the toss, I was in two minds if I won it whether to bat or bowl. I have always felt that playing here in the past, when you get good runs on the board and put pressure on the opposition, it is hard to get going,” Warner said after the eliminator.
But against Gujarat Lions in second qualifier, he chose to field first.When asked about why there was a change in plan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, after the game said, “We had decided in the meeting to bowl first. If you look at their (Gujarat’s) batting line-up, they have good batsmen like Finch, Raina, McCullum and Smith. They are good chasers. So we wanted to make them bat first so that we could get them out early and chase down the target.”
Mustafizur Rahaman, who is one of the main bowlers for SRH, was replaced by Kiwi pacer Trent Boult in the crucial game. While Boult was brilliant in the early overs, he was a bit expensive in the death overs.Mustafizur has been the prime weapon for SRH in the death overs and they certainly missed him.
“Mustafizur did really well but losing him in a crucial game wasn’t good for us but Boult did very well,” said an encouraging Bhuvneshwar. “It’s a part of the game that he went for a few runs in the second-last over. But if you look at him, he has really worked hard in the nets. He knew that there might be a chance for him to play either the semifinals or finals but you can’t say he has given runs; it’s a part of the game. Losing Fizz wasn’t good for us,” he added.
David Warner was the star of the match with a brilliant 93 runs, but it was Bipul Sharma’s quickfire knock that took SRH to the final. The spinner hit three sixes to take the pressure off Warner.
Praising the spinner, Bhuvneshwar said:”The last 4-5 overs when Bipul went in to bat (was the turning point). Warner needed support from the other end, which is what Bipul did. It’s never easy to go out and score runs immediately, but Bipul hit. He’s a good pinch-hitter. He told Warner that he would give him support when he went in to bat and that’s exactly what we wanted.”