IPL 2019: We Were Not At Our Best in this Season - VVS Laxman

Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman believes the team was not up to the mark in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. The Orange Army could only get six wins under their belt in the league stage of the tournament. Thus, they had 12 points in their bag and Kane Williamson-led side was able to qualify for playoff stages after some help from other franchises.

Read More: Virat Kohli is Possibly the Best Player Ever – Andrew Flintoff

Sunrisers Hyderabad were heavily dependent on the shoulders of their openers – David Warner and Jonny Bairstow – who top-scored for them. However, once both of them left for national duties – Hyderabad had huge shoes to fill in. Manish Pandey got back into form but team lacked a collective batting performance. Furthermore, the bowling unit wasn’t up to the mark as they were in the previous season when Hyderabad had qualified for the final of the tournament.

VVS Laxman rues collective effort.

Laxman said that Eliminator defeat against Delhi Capitals was symbolic for the way the team played in the season.

“Sunrisers Hyderabad’s defeat at the hands of Delhi Capitals, and subsequent elimination from IPL 2019, was symbolic of our entire campaign,” Laxman wrote in his column for The Times of India on Friday. “We weren’t necessarily at our best, but we kept scrapping and battling and, in the end, we fell just short. There are learnings from this campaign that we will take on board, and come better prepared to try and fulfil the expectations of our fans.”

Hyderabad had got off to a blistering start against Delhi when Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha added 31 runs in the first three overs. However, the middle order could not get the momentum as Manish Pandey crawled to 30 odd 36 balls whereas Williamson scored 28 from 29 balls. Hence, VVS Laxman believes they were 10-15 runs short of a par score.

We were 15-20 runs short.

“We have excellent players of spin, so it was more a case of approach than skills that let us down. In fact, we found momentum towards the end to post a competitive total, but like in previous games where a very tepid middle was sandwiched between a blazing start and a good finish, I felt we were about 10-15 runs short,” he observed.

Shaw had the rub off the green on his side as he was dropped on 15. Furthermore, Rishabh Pant went on to play a match-winning knock for Delhi Capitals as he scored 49 off just 21 balls to help Delhi go through to the second qualifier.

Shaw and Pant impressed VVS Laxman.

“I was impressed with the fearlessness with which he (Shaw) struck the ball despite being dropped, which is another of the ills that plagued our run throughout the season,” he wrote.

He added, “The dangerous Rishabh Pant was still around, and he showcased his ability with a savage assault on Basil Thampi. As painful as it was to be at the receiving end, it was also exhilarating to see Rishabh take on the bowlers. He is clearly the future of Indian cricket, and it pleased me no end to witness the maturity he showed, though he will be disappointed that he wasn’t around to finish off the job.”