Sunrisers Hyderabad batting coach Hemang Badani expressed his surprise after Kuldip Yadav was given the penultimate over by Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson following their thrilling four-wicket win in Jaipur on Sunday. The second-last over turned out to be the game-changer as SRH scored 24 runs off it.
Phillips went 6, 6, 6, and 4 on the first four balls against the inexperienced Yadav, who failed to hit the right areas. The New Zealander scored a sublime cameo of 7-ball 25 which had one four and three sixes to help his team win the crucial contest.
In fact, Sanju Samson had the option of giving the ball to Obed McCoy (impact player) and Murugan Ashwin but he decided to back Kuldip Yadav, which didn’t pay off.
Speaking at a post-match press conference, Badani expressed surprise over RR’s tactics. He said: “If I had to bring in an impact player [McCoy], I might have brought him into the game a little earlier. They bowled one of him and then they went to Kuldip. Maybe, you would rather go to your experienced bowler. Kuldip is still learning his trait, but McCoy has been around for a little while.
“I found it a wee bit surprising that they went towards Kuldip and not to McCoy.”
The former left-hander added that the strategy was to play out Rajasthan Royals’ lead spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“The talk was that this surface is a good surface. [Ravichandran] Ashwin had finished his fourth over by the 14th. We felt just the couple of overs of [Yuzvendra] Chahal that we had to ensure that we didn’t lose too many.
Badani added they had confidence they could take the attack against the Rajasthan Royals’ fast bowlers and get the job done at the fag end of the innings.
“We fancied our chances because we knew Sandeep [Sharma] had one, Kuldip would have had to bowl. They brought in Obed later. We felt that this was a surface where the medium pacers could be taken down.”
Badani went on to conclude by saying that it’s a big win for them as it gives them the much-needed winning impetus, which they will look to continue in the upcoming matches.
SRH will next face Lucknow Super Giants at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday.
