IPL 2018: Manish Pandey unhappy with SRH bowling in Bengaluru

The Sunrisers Hyderabad made an exciting game out of nowhere in the recent encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Chasing 218 in a T20 game is never easy but SRH were in the hunt till the very last over with Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson scoring brilliant fifties. They eventually fell short by 14 runs in the game though.

Earlier in the game, the RCB batsmen had made merry on the same track. They milked Basil Thampi for 70 runs in his quota of four overs. As per the recent quotes in the Hindustan Times, Manish Pandey remarked that they conceded a little too many in the final overs of the match and that cost them dearly. He felt that a score of 190-200 would have been ideal to chase.

“Overall 215-220 was a lot on this wicket. We gave away about 70 runs in the last five overs. Colin de Grandhomme played well, Sarfraz Khan got quick runs…we should have given them only 190-200, that’s what our plan was but such games do happen. It was a nice wicket but we should work as a bowling team together,” Manish Pandey quoted.

On the final over equation

In the final over of the innings, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were asked to score 20 runs. They had a well set Kane Williamson on strike. However, Mohammad Siraj struck on the very first ball and dismissed Williamson to pull things in RCB’s favor. Manish Pandey admitted that the wicket of Williamson was the turning point and the ask became a little too much for him to accomplish alone.

However, he added that he happy with his personal performance in the game. He noted that the knock was long overdue and everyone in the team dugout are happy to seem him strike good form at the business end of the tournament.

“Twenty runs. Kane was on strike, first ball when a wicket goes sometimes it is difficult to come up from there. Mohammed Siraj bowled really well to get those yorkers right on the spot. Probably if I would have connected a couple, we would have come closer but they bowled better in the last five overs than us. That was the difference,” remarked the middle order batsman.

“Yes definitely (it was a good knock). Me and everybody had been waiting for this. Special knock I thought. Bangalore is pretty close to me, this was one of the chances where I thought that if I get to bat with balls in hand… I was preparing myself play accordingly and opened up,” he added further.

On Kane Williamson

Lastly, Manish Pandey had his words of praises reserved for the SRH skipper. Coming in to the season, the SRH camp looked shaky with no David Warner in the side. But the way Williamson has led them, they look like a formidable force. He has been leading the team from the front. He has hammered 8 fifties in the season – the most by any player. Also, he is the leading run getter for his side.

“(He has done) very well. He has got about 600 runs this IPL already. He has been batting really well. Captaincy… he has been using the bowlers really well. He is understanding the culture of the team and how to bring in our main spinners like Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan. They have been taking wickets for us and are real assets. To control the game from there and the way the bowlers are responding, he has been fantastic till now and we hope he continues (in the same manner) till the end,” mentioned the Karnataka cricketer.

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