Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Brian Lara, has highly praised star Indian pacer, T Natrajan despite the loss in the opening game. While SRH lost against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 4th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Natrajan who is highly prone to injuries in the past but came back strongly in his second spell after giving 13 runs in his first over.
Brian Lara praised SRH pacer T. Natarajan for his comeback-
“I was very, very impressed with Natrajan’s comeback. He got hit for runs in the first over but then comeback strongly in his last three overs,” said the veteran West Indies batter.
The left seamer in his last appearance for Sunrisers gave 13 runs in his over but came strongly in his second spell when he removed opposition skipper Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag, he ended his spell for 23/2 in three overs.
“At one point, we thought we would be chasing 220 plus but our bowlers did well at the back end of the game and restricted them to 203 for 5,” he further added.
Coming to the match, SRH skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and opted to bowl first, Sanju Samson-led RR batted first and posted a mammoth total of 203 runs for the loss of five wickets in Hyderabad. The top three batters of the Royals scored a half-century, with both openers, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal, including Samson’s fifty.
While in chase Sunrisers only managed to post the figure of 131/8 in their 20 overs, Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with his figure of 4/17 in four overs, while star off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin picked one wicket, later Buttler was awarded player of the match for his 54 runs in 22 balls.
Nattu in death overs ? Always ?#OrangeFireIdhi #OrangeArmy #IPL2023 #SRHvRR pic.twitter.com/DIErNzIWxm
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 3, 2023
“If you split the game into two halves. We lost the first powerplay with the ball in our hands. And when we had the bats in our hands, we also lost the powerplay again,We lost both the powerplays in drastic ways. They got 85 with the bat, and then losing two wickets in the first over set you back when you are chasing over 200.
“We know where we are as a team. It came with a devastating defeat, but it’s just the beginning of the tournament and we will look to bounce back from here,” concluded Lara.
While SRH will play their next match in IPL 2023 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, on April 7.
Also read: SRH vs RR: Revealed – Why Players Are Wearing Black Armbands