Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson rued his batters' inability to build a few partnerships and take the chase of a daunting 193 deep in their 67-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
After Bangalore captain, Faf du Plessis anchored the innings with an unbeaten 73 and Dinesh Karthik provided a grandstand finish with a sensational eight-ball 30 to propel the side to 192/3, Hyderabad had a horror start as Williamson was run-out for a diamond duck and was followed by Abhishek Sharma, clean bowled by Glenn Maxwell.
Though Rahul Tripathi slammed an incredible 58 and was supported by some big hits from Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, Hyderabad were unable to break free from scoreboard pressure and were comprehensively outclassed by Bangalore to crash to their fourth straight defeat of the tournament.
"We didn't get off to a great start, they had a very good total on that surface. It was holding a bit, and it was turning a bit, the wicket. We needed to build some partnerships and take the game deep in order to maximise the opportunities on this Wankhede ground, but we were unable to do that," said Williamson after the match.
With just three matches left for them in IPL 2022 league stage, time is running out for Hyderabad to solve their batting problems. "It's been quite a challenge for us, we need to come up with ways to reverse that pressure and turnaround. These have been par totals, the batting has been quality, but as a unit, there are areas to touch on."
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"I think earlier in the competition when there was assistance with the new ball we were certainly very threatening, so we need to go back to the drawing board as we have a little gap between the next game," stated Williamson.
Williamson admitted that Bangalore were too strong for them and were able to outclass them in all departments of the game. "We will have to get a bit more creative and come up with ways to change the momentum. Today we were outplayed, RCB are a really strong side, in fact, all teams are strong. For us, it's about looking to stay calm. We do need to improve but don't need to overthink. The margins are always fine, but we need to show signs of improvement."
Williamson signed off by saying that he hopes to see left-arm pacers T. Natarajan and Marco Jansen recover from their respective injuries to take part in the business end of Hyderabad's league stage.
"A lot of learning, we were outplayed like I said, but we do have a gap. So it's important for us to reassess and we need to be clear about how we target our next matches and take it positively. I'm not sure exactly, but I think they (Jansen, Natarajan) are recovering pretty well. Certainly hoping to see them again soon."
