'Ramandeep’s knock set up the platform for Andre Russell' - Daniel Vettori reflects on SRH's narrow loss to KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad locked horns at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, March 24. Kolkata batted first after losing the toss but failed to capitalise despite getting off to a good start as Phil Salt batted well at the top. However, the rest of the middle-order batters failed to add much, with Venkatesh and Shreyas Iyer getting dismissed for seven and zero runs, respectively, while opener Sunil Narine departed for two.

However, it was KKR's the lower middle-order which stabilised the innings as Ramandeep Singh scored 35 off 17 and Rinku Singh added 23. The main hero for the hosts was Andre Russell, who scored an unbeaten 64 off just 25 deliveries to take KKR to 208 runs in the first innings. 

Speaking of their opponent's performance, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s head coach Daniel Vettori heaped praise on Ramandeep for setting up a platform for the likes of Russell to go hard towards the end of the innings. 

Also read: There is no outfield big enough for Andre Russell when he's smashing the ball: Brian Lara

“It was a great innings. I don’t think we underestimated him, but the shots he played were fantastic. It put the pressure back on us," Vettori said in the post-match press conference. "When you look at good T20 games, good T20 players, irrespective of the situation, are able to put pressure straight back on the bowling team, and that’s what he was able to do. It allowed Salt at the other end to just play his game."

Ramandeep’s innings set up the platform for Russell: Daniel Vettori

Vettori reflected on Russell’s performance as well, opining that his power is second to none.

“Ramandeep’s innings set up the platform for Russell. On this ground in particular, it’s very tricky. Obviously, he would give some chances, balls go up in the air, but his power is second to none. So, you have to challenge yourself on being perfect with execution and in an environment like this up against an amazing batsman,” Vettori said.