IPL 6: It was not a good T20 wicket, says Daredevils coach after heavy defeat

Hyderabad - After Delhi Daredevils suffered a crushing six-wicket defeat at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here, coach Eric Simons said it was not a good wicket for Twenty20 cricket.

The visitors were bowled out for a paltry 80, the lowest score in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and the home team achieved the target with more than six overs and six wickets to spare.

“When you have a player of the calibre of Virender Sehwag facing 17 balls for eight runs, it shows what a struggling wicket it was,” Simons said on Saturday.

He said after realising that it is a difficult wicket, they felt 120-130 was going to be defendable.

“We should have played accordingly after assessing everyone’s game. We have to assess thinking whether we threw away wickets when we should have read the wicket better.”

Defending the decision to bat first, the South African said the history of the ground suggested that batting first is the way to go.

“But it might have been a good toss to lose and to have batted second. We need to look at what we have done and the bottom line is we should have scored 125-130.”

The coach noted that last year 145-150 was the average score but this year 160-165 have been chased down regularly.

With just three wins from 11 games, Daredevils find themselves almost at the bottom of the points table. Simons felt that the team had not been consistent and failed to fire as a batting unit.

“When we came up against opposition which have two to three strong batsmen, they tend to build partnerships. If we have similar partnerships we look unbeatable. Twenty20 is about a big score and one big partnership. We have not done that consistently.”

On the road ahead, he said: “We need to be as positive and professional as we possibly can. No doubt we might find playing with lot more freedom because our backs are against the wall now but we need to stick together as a team and play with what one expects from professional cricketers.”

On whether the team would give opportunity to young players, Simons said they would think about it after taking strategic decisions about what they want to achieve in the rest of the tournament.