A full game would have helped Sunrisers, says coach Muralitharan

The curtailment due to rain further reduced Sunrisers Hyderabad’s chances winning the IPL Eliminator after an average batting effort, according to Muttiah Muralitharan.

Published : May 18, 2017 14:05 IST , Bengaluru

Muttiah Muralitharan was satisfied with his players’ performances this season.
Muttiah Muralitharan was satisfied with his players’ performances this season.
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Muttiah Muralitharan was satisfied with his players’ performances this season.

Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Muttiah Muralitharan believes his team would have possessed better chances of booking its spot in the second Indian Premier League Qualifier if its Eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders had not been truncated due to rain.

Rain forced Knight Riders’ chase to be shortened to six overs on Wednesday night. Knight Riders had earlier produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict Sunrisers to a modest 128 for seven before a break in play caused due to rainfall at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Upon resumption, Knight Riders was given a target of 48, which it reached with consummate ease.

“I think overall if you see, the Bengaluru wicket this year was very low scoring. I thought 130 is a par score. I think with more runs on the board and if [we had taken] two or three wickets in a 20-over game, we would have had a better chance [of winning] than playing a six-over game,” Muralitharan told reporters at the post-match press conference here.

Muralitharan felt his team fell 10 runs short of what it would have wanted to score. “The wicket is not that great to play shots here, because if you had played your shots, you would have been bowled out for 70-80 runs. We were thinking about putting 140 runs, and if we had a 20-over game, we had the bowling to defend. Unfortunately, we were 10 runs short. They bowled well as well,” he said.

‘Very good season’

“We have all seen on this wicket this season, even while defending 130, teams have won,” he added.

Muralitharan said his team had experienced a fruitful IPL season. “Unfortunately, it was the rain, which you cannot complain about, and you need to move on because they played better. We had a very good season and we played well. However, unfortunately you need to go out sometimes when you are in the knock-outs. Therefore, unfortunately this year is not our year. We will make sure if we can build the same team next year, comeback and fight for the trophy,” he said.

Muralitharan was satisfied with his players’ performances. “Our batsmen batted well, the bowlers, who were picked in the auction, did well as well. Therefore, we are satisfied with our players along with our performance as well,” he said.

He added, “We also won eight matches or something (sic), while we just lost five matches, along with this loss. We won it last year, and that is not going to happen every time. Every team tries hard. Therefore, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We take it on the chin and say ‘Ok, it’s not our year’. I also congratulate all the players who played really well for us.”

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