It is a season where Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants have openly spoken about the missing home advantage. And the latest to join that list is Sunrisers Hyderabad, with its head coach Daniel Vettori terming the conditions at their home Uppal stadium wasn’t to their expectations as they became the latest side to be eliminated following their wash out against Delhi Capitals.
, finalists last year, came into the tournament with expectations sky high as their bold, aggressive batting being the talk of the town. Having retained the core and bringing in the likes of Ishan Kishan into the fold, Hyderabad once again adopted the same aggressive approach this season as well, but have managed only three win so far from 11 games.
As their batting unit kept faltering, Vettori has insisted that they are not a team that backs only one style of play and he repeated it once again. “I definitely didn’t say after every match I was backing an aggressive approach,” Vettori said. “I said we’re about assessing conditions and this year, the conditions weren’t as we expected. If you look at last year, there were a lot of high-scoring games here.
“These surfaces in particular have been a little bit different. It has been tricky, it hasn’t been easy for the batters. All we’ve talked about is assessing conditions, trying to read the game and understand what to do in certain situations. I think the guys are innately aggressive, but certainly, this season has been about trying to establish what’s been required on the day.”
Earlier in the season when they got off to a flying start in their opening fixture, high totals in excess of 250 seemed a par score at the Uppal stadium with many predicting that Hyderabad could breach the 300-run mark. But out of 11 innings here, teams have posted 200 or above only on four occasions. Last season, out of 12 innings, teams had 200 or above on seven instances. And Vettori said the conditions at Hyderabad have been more bowler-friendly this time.
“There have been two surfaces that have been 250-plus, and there have been four here that have been probably more conducive for the fast bowlers. Not so much the spinners but new ball has been a little bit sticky, hard to hit, not coming onto the bat. The has some of the best new-ball bowlers in the world and they were able to exploit those conditions,” Vettori said.
