Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori showered huge praise on his team’s bowling performance despite the team being officially knocked out of the IPL 2025 playoff race. SRH’s clash against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on May 5 ended in a no-result due to consistent rain after the first innings, quashing the home side’s hopes of qualification.
Coming into the match with slim chances to make the top four, the side needed a victory to stay alive in the competition. SRH bowlers produced one of their best performances this season by reducing DC to a mere 133 for 7. But with no play possible after the innings break due to rain and a wet outfield, the game was abandoned, and both teams shared a point each. With only seven points from 11 matches, SRH can now only reach a maximum of 13. Vettori opened up about the effort of his bowlers and fielders.
“It was a really good performance, probably our best bowling and fielding performance of the tournament so far. It’s something that we really talk long and hard about in training and in the meetings. So, to come out there and start so well, it was a very good performance,” Vettori said following the abandoned match on Monday.
The former New Zealand skipper pointed out the high expectations from the team this season, especially after their explosive start, and being the finalists of the previous edition.
“Obviously it’s disappointing. We came (into this season) with high hopes, But we just haven’t been consistent enough with our performances and just not being able to put complete performances together. Today was the start of a complete performance so it’s frustrating that we couldn’t finish it, but that’s cricket,” he added.
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Skipper Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers, who ended with figures of 3 for 19, running through DC’s top order with the new ball. The Australian pacer’s three victims were Karun Nair, Faf du Plessis, and Abishek Porel, with all walking back in single-digit scores.
“Pat’s a tremendous new ball bowler normally he sort of plays a bit of a Mr Fix-It role for us in terms of being able to jump all over the power play, the middle, the death. Today it was just a nice opportunity to give him the new ball and go at them and he was fantastic tonight. If you look at his overall performance, he’s been able to be a wicket-taker, he’s bowled a number of different roles for us and he’s been able to mix and match depending on who’s selected in the team. Today, I think the first time he took the new ball, took the first over and you can see why he’s such a dominant test match bowler when he gets that opportunity. So pleasing for him to be able to turn up today and bowl so well and lead the team exceptionally well. Hopefully that carries on to the last three games of the season,” Vettori concluded.
