Vijay: There’s a lot to learn from Amla

Murali Vijay was all praise for man of the match Hashim Amla. "He is a world class player and the way he played on this kind of wicket was really great to watch. There are lots of things to learn from him," he said.

Hashim Amla was sublime, scoring 96 off 56 balls.

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper Murali Vijay attributed his team’s sub-par showing this season to “a lot of variables” before signing off with a cliché: “we can take the positives from this season and come back and play better cricket next season.”

Reflecting on the team’s overall performances while talking to the mediapersons following a seven-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, Vijay said, “We should have started well in the tournament to have a chance in the end. In the end, almost all teams are set with their playing eleven. They are going to come hard at us. I personally thought we have a good set up. We have a bunch of guys who could win matches in their own right. It didn’t click for us this season.”

Looking back at the latest defeat, the skipper said, “I thought they batted well. We were in the game till the 15th-16th over. And when Yuvi came, we missed out on the plans. Obviously, we need to rethink about it. This is what we are going to face in the future games: what are we going to do in the pressure situation? I cannot be harsh on my bowlers because they’ve been brilliant throughout the season. One off-game like this does happen.”

Vijay was all praise for man of the match Hashim Amla. “He is a world class player and the way he played on this kind of wicket was really great to watch. There are lots of things to learn from him. Obviously, to come up on the losing side in the end is a little sad for him. Hopefully, we can take it on the chin and play two more games with a lot more pride.”

On his part, Amla said, “It was nice to get some runs, but I'm disappointed we lost. Yuvraj played an exceptional knock to get his side over the line. I came from not hitting too many balls back home to the IPL, so it was good to get some runs.”

Sunrisers skipper David Warner said, “I was a bit worried after the bowling display. We thought 160-165 was par, credit to Hashim Amla, it was a fantastic knock. The surface wasn’t bad, it was just slow, and so it was hard as a bowling unit to adapt to those conditions. It was fantastic for youngster Deepak Hooda to come out and play the way he did, and then Yuvraj Singh, who has won so many matches for India.”