“We came up against Virat Kohli at his best” - SRH head coach Brian Lara
SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Brian Lara has stated that he was not too disappointed with the team’s performance against Royal Challenge Bangalore (RCB). Praising the opposition, he admitted that they ran into Virat Kohli at his best.
SRH went down to RCB by eight wickets in match number 65 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday, May 18. Hyderabad’s loss to Bangalore was their ninth defeat in 13 games.
Despite the loss, SRH head coach Lara refused to be critical of the team. He instead credited the opposition for a tremendous effort.
Speaking at a post-match press conference, Lara commented:
“I am not overly disappointed with today’s [Thursday’s] performance. The guys played really good cricket and we came up against Virat Kohli at his best and Faf du Plessis, who has done a tremendous job for RCB throughout the season. He is the Orange Cap leader at the moment. So, we came up against two world-class players.
"To lose in the 20th over was a good effort from the boys.”
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Batting first, SRH posted 186/5. However, Virat Kohli (100 off 63) and Faf du Plessis (71 off 47) added 172 for the opening wicket to guide Bangalore to an eight-wicket win in 19.2 overs.
“He played his heart out for the entire season” - Lara hails Heinrich Klaasen
While Hyderabad suffered another defeat in IPL 2023, Heinrich Klaasen continued his good form and hammered a brilliant hundred against RCB. He scored 104 off 51 balls to help his team recover from 28/2.
Praising Klaasen, Lara said:
“He played his heart out for the team for the entire season. He was rewarded tonight with a hundred. Obviously, we would love to be in a winning dressing room, but so be it. He showed his class once more. He showed his determination and his commitment to Sunrisers Hyderabad and we are so happy to have him.
“Everyone was so happy for him - every single player, management and the spectators. Having seen him bat here and away from home, [him] finally getting a hundred was tremendous. I think we might be the only team with two hundreds. [Harry Brook also scored a hundred].”
Klaasen has scored 430 runs in 11 matches in IPL 2023 at an average of 53.75 and a strike rate of 179.17.
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Meanwhile, SRH will end their IPL 2023 campaign with a match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, May 21.