IPL 2021: Nortje and Rabada were too good for us, says Hyderabad coach

Dubai - Sunrisers continue to remain at the bottom of the points table

After stumbling to an eight-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Trevor Bayliss said that the Rishabh Pant-led side was too good for his team on the day.

Shreyas Iyer (47 not out) and Rishabh Pant (35 not out) played fluent knocks as Delhi Capitals chased down the target of 135 with eight wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.

Sunrisers continue to remain at the bottom of the points table.

Delhi relied on their world-class South African fast bowling pair of Anrich Nortje (2/12) and Kagiso Rabada (3/37) to restrict Sunrisers to a low score.

And Bayliss admitted that his batsmen, including skipper Kane Williamson, could not cope with the pressure applied by the Delhi bowlers.

“Williamson is one of the world’s best batters. Even the best batters in the world are not perfect, sometimes they can have an off day,” Bayliss said.

“Look, you have to give DC bowlers credit, they bowled well. They have some world-class bowlers and they are very fast bowlers. They had a good day and we did not, that’s the game of cricket,” said Bayliss during a virtual post-match press conference.

Bayliss admitted the team missed the four overs from T Natarajan, the Hyderabad pace bowler who tested positive for Covid-19 before the start of the match.

“Natarajan was going to play, but these guys are professional players, and every time there is an injury before the match, you have to make a replacement. All the players are used to that but yeah, I hope Natarajan gets over Covid-19 pretty quickly,” he said.

Earlier, Rabada and Nortje shared five wickets as Sunrisers were restricted to 134/9 in 20 overs. For Williamson’s side, Abdul Samad top-scored with 28.

“Sometimes low-scoring matches can be very exciting. It depends on whether both teams are scoring low scores. Our guys in the field stuck at it the best we could. The wickets did not come, so it put us under pressure,” the Sunrisers coach said.

“But the effort our guys put in was nothing to complain about. On another day, when we score more runs, and the pressure we put in the field will help us take wickets.”

Sunrisers Hyderabad will play Punjab Kings in their next game on Saturday.