Throughout the season, Sunrisers Hyderabad stood out with its bowling but the soldiers of the orange army faltered when it mattered the most. Three of its bowlers — Siddarth Kaul (32), Sandeep Sharma (27) and Shakib Al Hasan (15) — leaked 74 runs between them in four overs that turned the tide against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League final here at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
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SRH skipper Kane Williamson, however, believes different venues offer different wickets and CSK’s temperament won it the game. “Look at the variety of surfaces we played on. Siddarth was brilliant in the last few games and T20s games are aggressive. He has a good slower delivery and his death bowling is of the highest quality,” he said.
Williamson lauded Shane Watson for his match-winning knock — 117 not out off 57 balls. “That was a brilliant innings. We thought we had a competitive total on board. But I will look at Watson and how he handled the pressure. Everybody is under pressure in a final but he responded beautifully. The experience of CSK was a major factor,” added Williamson, who earned the Orange Cap for ending with the most runs — 735 in 17 games, including eight fifties.
Talking about leadership, the future that may have David Warner back, the Kiwi reasoned, “It was a different experience coming into this job which had many guys I hadn’t met before. It was an enjoyable campaign. I don’t have any thoughts beyond the game tonight. David has done a fantastic job with the franchise too.”
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Before concluding, Williamson also praised his go-to spinner Rashid Khan for his game-changing prowess. The Afghan leg-spinner finished with 21 wickets, three short of Andrew Tye (24) — the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. “Rashid is a world-class bowler. He is a challenge for any batsman. It is a pleasure to face him at the nets. He is a full package and a fantastic player to have in the side.”
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