IPL 2016: Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner wants his side to seal top-two spot
Following their victory over Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, Sunrisers Hyderabad are now on top of the table and have almost qualified for the playoffs. It has been a remarkable turnaround considering the last couple of seasons in which the ‘Men in Orange’ finished among the bottom-ranked teams.
During the post-match press conference, skipper David Warner was understandably pleased with his side’s performance. However, the top-order batsman warned his team-mates from becoming complacent and aim for a top-two finish which would give them an extra opportunity to make the final.
When asked about the remaining league matches against Kolkata Knightriders and Delhi Daredevils, Warner was ready for the challenge against fellow contenders and quipped that they were playing to win both encounters.
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He enthused, “We are very excited and happy to go through. But, for us it is about winning. It (winning) is the key to have momentum in this format. We need to keep winning, obviously to finish in the top two. That is our goal and that is our focus.”
Remembering the poor performance against the Daredevils in Hyderabad, Warner affirmed, “We have set our sights on the next game. We go to Raipur and play against Delhi. In last game, they beat us as we did not play particularly well. We have to play at our best to beat Delhi and they could be a potential contender in the finals.”
The 29-year old also revealed the secret behind his team’s impressive run of form. He said, “We have really worked hard this year, we have stayed hungry. And we have belief in ourselves to go out there and play the perfect game.”
Warner added, “Couple of games didn't go our way. Then we got into the winning streak, had a bad game and then we won again. So, at the moment we have to keep trying playing our best game.”
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He also had special words of praise for Yuvraj Singh’s contribution with the bat. The doughty Australian claimed, “We saw today and that is the quality he brings to his team in the middle period. He played with a clear mind.”
But, he was rather non-committal on Ashish Nehra’s injury issues. Warner hoped, “All I know about it is that there was a tendon issue. He is going to be assessed by medical staff and I think there will be a press release about that.”
The aggressive opener has led from the front by scoring 567 runs at an average of 56.70 with six fifties. However, he remained guarded against complacency and noted, “It is about not being complacent and about moving forward and keep continuing to play good cricket. We can work on a lot of other things, with our bowling, with our batting.”